Rebecca shrugged and smiled rather ruefully. “Therewere only fourteen boys there,” she said, “the fewest sofar. But the weather is exceptionally good. I am sure theremust be much work for them to do with their fathers.”
“The Reverend Everett must be disappointed,” Maudesaid sympathetically. “He sets great store by the successof the school, does he not?”
“Yes,” Rebecca replied, “I am afraid he does. Poor Philip is so otherworldly himself and puts so much effortinto all he does, that he expects an equal dedication fromeveryone. He cannot be contented with letting the schooldevelop gradually. I keep telling him that it is a totallynew idea for the people of the village and farms to be ableto have their sons educated. They must be given time toget accustomed to the idea—a few years, perhaps.”
“The Reverend Everett deserves success,” Maude commented. “The welfare of others is always so much more important than his own well-being. I noticed last Sundayas I shook hands with him on leaving church that there wasa patch on the hem of his surplice. I do admire him so.”
“I call that affectatious,” the baron added, having swunghis attention from one conversation to the other. “Thefellow does not need to walk around with a patched surplice. This is the richest living for miles around. It don’tdo for a clergyman to go around in rags. He makes thegentry look miserly. My brother never did that, Rebecca,dear, even though he had some peculiar notions.”
Rebecca smiled. “I am sure Philip will never be reduced to wearing rags, Uncle Humphrey,” she said. “But I do know that he cares little for personal vanity.”
“It is a kind of vanity to wear patched clothes,” the baron added sagely. “He likes other people to notice howgodly he is. I still believe that the niece of Lord Holmescould have made a better match, Rebecca.”
She smiled affectionately at him but did not reply. They had exhausted all there was to say on that topic long ago.“May I come with you one day, Rebecca?” Maudeasked, looking almost beseechingly at the niece who was three years older than she. “I should like to see yourschool when the boys are there. I would not get in the wayat all. In fact, I could perhaps be useful. You are by farmore knowledgeable than I am. Yet you said yourself butlast week that my French is better than yours. Perhaps Icould teach a little?”
Rebecca opened her mouth to explain as tactfully as she could that she and Philip had decided not to include anylanguage other than English in their school curriculum—atfirst, anyway. Not even Latin was to be taught. They hadboth agreed that the boys had a great deal to learn merelyto read and write their own language correctly. However,the baron spoke before she did.
“There is no call for you to do any such thing, my love,” he said to his wife. “It is bad enough to have myniece involved in such low pursuits. It would not do at allfor Lady Holmes of Limeglade to involve herself in therunning of a school for the vulgar. Such behavior wouldtarnish both your image and mine.”
“But, my lord,” Maude said, raising large eyes timidly to his, “it would give me something to do. Sometimes Ifeel so useless. The household runs so smoothly, and dearHarriet likes to do her part as she did before I came here.It is surely becoming for your wife to involve herself incharitable activities.”
“I shall take you to visit the school one afternoon,” the baron said, “and the boys can recite their lessons for us.That is charitable enough. But you will not teach. Youhave enough to do, my love, keeping yourself lookingbeautiful. You mustn’t exert yourself doing much else.Work ruins the health and the complexion.”
Maude’s eyes had dropped to the tea in the cup she held with one hand. “I shall not go, then, my lord,” she saidquietly, “if you do not wish it.”
Rebecca turned her attention away from this mild domestic dispute. She felt sorry for Maude. Her uncle’s wife was a quiet and sensible girl. Yet she was married to afoolish and vain man thirty years her senior. He shouldhave been much wiser than she, a father figure almost.Certainly he thought himself wiser. Consequently, he gaveher very little freedom. It was not that he was a tyrannicalor hardhearted man. Rather he was an aging man who wastrying to prolong or recapture his own youth through ayoung wife. He cosseted her, protected her, and treatedher more as a fragile doll than a woman. Having alwaysbeen idle yet contented himself, he failed to understandthat his wife was bored and restless.
It was a great shame that he refused to listen to her occasional pleas for more activity, Rebecca reflected. Atleast so far her suggestions had all been on the side ofgood. She had wished to create a flower garden to thesouth of the house, doing much of the work herself. Theflower garden was now in existence, but Lady Holmes hadnot been permitted any part in its creation. She had wishedto visit the sick, taking with her gifts of baking andneedlework that she had made herself. She now did visitthe sick one afternoon a month, conveyed in the baron’sbest closed traveling carriage. But she carried offeringsthat the servants had made. And now she wished to help atthe school.
Perhaps if she became bored and frustrated enough, Lady Holmes would turn her attention to less desirableactivities. Perhaps she would learn to ride recklessly or. . . Rebecca’s imagination at the moment could provideno vice more terrible than that. But she did feel sorry forMaude. She knew that she herself would chafe terriblyagainst such restrictions. At least with Philip she would besure of always having plenty to do.
She let her eyes roam around the rest of the group gathered in the drawing room. Julian Sinclair, eager andboyish, was talking earnestly to Harriet. He fancied himself in love with her, perhaps really was so. They hadgrown up together, were only a year apart in age. He mustknow her well enough to know that she was moody:haughty one minute, all contrite affection the next; coldlyaloof at one time, warmly impulsive at another. Yet hestill sought her company, beseeched her with his eyes forsomething more than the offhand treatment he usuallyreceived from her.
Harriet, Rebecca suspected, still did not know what she wanted of life. She shared much of her father’s vanity andfoolishness. Yet against all reason, Rebecca was fond ofher cousin. She had little reason to be. Harriet had scantpatience for Rebecca’s apparent lack of interest in herpersonal appearance and advancement and for her devotionto helping others.
She had once called Philip a pompous ass, but that had been immediately after she had been forced to listen to asermon in which he had condemned the vanity of worldlypossessions. She had been convinced that the sermon wasdirected against her because she was sitting conspicuouslyin her father’s padded pew at the front of the churchwearing a particularly frivolous new bonnet. She had apologized to Rebecca later the same day, saying that thesermon could not have been meant personally as the Reverend Everett’s sermons were always prepared in advanceand he could have had no way of knowing that she wouldbe wearing a new bonnet on that particular Sunday.
However it was, Rebecca considered Julian’s chances of winning Harriet slim. He was too young and unsure ofhimself to control her headstrong temperament. And hewas of no social significance. The Sinclairs were of goodlineage and were a long-established family in the county.But they had never been particularly wealthy or prominentin any other way. Their only claim to distinction at presentwas their relationship to Christopher Sinclair, who hadmade himself quite fabulously wealthy by contracting amarriage with the daughter of a cit, a man who hadamassed a fortune in business and trade.
Rebecca had no wish to continue that train of thought. She turned her attention to Mr. Bartlett, who was entertaining the two Sinclair girls. He was smiling; his eyeswere dancing. The two girls were listening to him, brighteyed and rapt. Rebecca found herself smiling too. Theirfamily circle had certainly brightened since the arrival ofMaude’s brother, despite the fact that Maude herself hadnot seemed overjoyed to see him when he arrived unexpectedly. Maude still seemed not to think of Limeglade asher home. She seemed to have felt embarrassed that arelative of hers would invite himself to stay with LordHolmes.
But he was a delightful man, Rebecca had decided. He was not remarkably handsome. He was of medium height,had auburn, wavy hair and eyebrows, and a pale complexion. His eyes were brown and set perhaps rather too closetogether for perfection. But they were candid and smilingeyes. His teeth were rather large for his face, or his mouthwas too wide. But they were white teeth and showedfrequently. He smiled a great deal.
He made friends very easily, a quality that Rebecca admired in him. Soon after his arrival he was on the bestof terms with both the baron and Harriet, and thus anyresentment that his unexpected visit might have causedwas smoothed over. He made an effort to converse withRebecca, though he need not have done so. Her approvalwas not necessary to his continued stay in the house. Hehad expressed interest in the school and had even agreedwith her opinion that some form of education should beoffered to the girls of the village, too. Philip had neverbeen sympathetic to that idea. Mr. Bartlett had met Philipand the Sinclairs and had been warmly welcomed by all.
Only Maude, strangely enough, seemed less than delighted by his presence. But Rebecca could understand why. Itmust be hard for a girl as quiet and shy as Maude to have abrother like Mr. Bartlett, a man so much at his ease incompany. She had taken months to get to know and feelcomfortable with people whose approbation he had wonwithin days. It must seem unfair to her to know that theywere of the same family yet were so different in temperament.
The Misses Sinclair were the first to rise to leave. Julian reluctantly followed their lead and got to his feet.
“Christopher will be here in two days’ time,” Ellen reminded the company. “I do not know how we will livethrough the rest of today and tomorrow. We will bring himto visit as soon as may be, Lady Holmes.” She turnedeagerly to Mr. Bartlett. “And you and he will have achance to renew your acquaintance,” she said.
Mr. Bartlett smiled and bowed.
After they had left, Lady Holmes rang the bell for the butler to remove the tea tray, and everyone sat downagain.
“I am so pleased that Mr. Christopher Sinclair is coming here,” said Harriet. “He is a very fashionable man, is he not, Papa?”
“Decidedly so, my dear,” her father agreed. He had taken a jeweled snuffbox from the table beside him, placeda pinch on the back of his right hand, and sniffed delicately through each nostril in turn. Then he took a lace-bordered handkerchief from his pocket and waited withhalf-closed eyes and twitching nostrils for the sneeze tofollow.
