"Bessie!" exclaimed her brother.
"Poor old fellow! you had excuse enough, lying on the sofa to the
tune of tap and click; but for a young lady in the advanced ranks of
civilization to abstain is a mere marvel."
"Surely it is a great waste of time," said Rachel.
"Ah! when I have converted you, you will wonder what people did with
themselves before the invention."
"Woman's mission discovered," quoth her brother.
"Also man's, unless he neglects it," returned Miss Elizabeth; "I wonder,
now, if you would play if Miss Curtis did."
"Wisdom never pledges itself how it will act in hypothetical
circumstances," was the reply.
"Hypothetical," syllabically repeated Bessie Keith; "did you teach him
that word, Miss Curtis? Well, if I don't bring about the hypothetical
circumstances, you may call me hyperbolical."
So they talked, Rachel in a state of bewilderment, whether she were
teased or enchanted, and Alexander Keith's quiet nonchalance not
concealing that he was in some anxiety at his sister's reckless talk,
but, perhaps, he hardly estimated the effect of the gay, quaint manner
that took all hearts by storm, and gave a frank careless grace to her
nonsense. She grew graver and softer as she came nearer Avonmouth,
and spoke tenderly of the kindness she had received at the time of her
mother's death at the Cape, when she had been brought to the general's,
and had there remained like a child of the house, till she had been sent
home on the removal of the regiment to India.
"I remember," she said, "Mrs. Curtis kept great order. In fact, between
ourselves, she was rather a dragon; and Lady Temple, though she had one
child then, seemed like my companion and playfellow. Dear little Lady
Temple, I wonder if she is altered!"
"Not in the least," returned both her companions at once, and she was
quite ready to agree with them when the slender form and fair young face
met her in the hall amid a cloud of eager boys. The meeting was a full
renewal of the parting, warm and fond, and Bessie so comported herself
on her introduction to the children, that they all became enamoured of
her on the spot, and even Stephana relaxed her shyness on her behalf.
That sunny gay good-nature could not be withstood, and Rachel, again
sharing Fanny's first dinner after an arrival, no longer sat apart
despising the military atmosphere, but listening, not without amusement,
to the account of the humours of the wedding, mingled with Alick Keith's
touches of satire.
"It was very stupid," said Bessie, "of none of those girls to have Uncle
George to marry them. My aunt fancied he would be nervous, but I know he
did marry a couple when Mr. Lifford was away; I mean him to marry me, as
I told them all."