Two months had elapsed since then. Sybella stood alone in the world, so far as her accustomed props were concerned, but with a fresh and absorbing interest in life. She had the children to care for. Sir Theodore had appointed her sole guardian of Evelyn and Cyril Devereux.
It was an interest which brought weighty responsibilities in its train.
"The children—" there was the rub! If it had but been only "the child!" Miss Devereux' whole heart went out from the first towards the gentle boy, who was always ready to respond to her caresses, always eager to give love for love. Every day the fascination grew upon her. From early morning till late at night her one idea was "Cyril." She dressed him in the daintiest garments compatible with mourning; she cultivated each curl and wave of his brown hair; she revelled in her new charge.
Cyril might undoubtedly be considered old enough for school. All the world agreed on this point. But Sybella had a mortal aversion to schools, diligently instilled into her by Sir John Devereux and Mrs. Willoughby, through the best part of her forty years. What they had thought, she continued to think, and if she lacked decision on many points, she knew her own mind here.
She displayed a sudden resolution which took people by surprise. School for Cyril! That little delicate darling to be knocked about by a horde of great rough boys! It would be the death of him! For once Sybella was determined, asking no advice. She would go in for any amount of advice on matters unimportant, but in this case she declined counsel, having her aunt's strong opinion to serve as a guide.
General Villiers reasoned in vain; friends lifted their eyebrows in vain. Sybella would teach the precious boy herself for the present, till he had rallied from the weakening effects of the Indian climate; and then—well, then she would consider. A tutor, perhaps, or even a day-school. Time enough for that. Miss Devereux was beginning to be conscious of her own power, and to resent what looked like interference with a guardian's prerogatives.
There might be no difficulty as to the actual lessons. Sybella, though not mentally gifted, had had a good education; and Latin was easily to be procured. But there was the question of boyish games, of boyish companionship; not to speak of the perils of over-petting and spoiling.
Miss Devereux was afflicted with a mortal horror of cold, of damp, of east winds, of draughts, of wet feet, of unwholesome food, of over-exertion. She did her best to instil this compound horror into her young charge. She watched and discussed everything that found its way into the baronet's pretty mouth. She examined the weathercock each day, before allowing him to go out. She tenderly consulted his looks and symptoms.
Sir Cyril was a most responsive little boy. He had always been delicate, and he was used to anxious petting. There were no struggles between the two. Miss Devereux found him malleable as wax in her hands. His sweet grave sayings, his trained politeness, his un-childlike understanding of some things, combined with a more than childlike timidity, his love of Bible stories, his readiness to be taught, his affectionate clinging to herself—all these were in Sybella's eyes "beautiful." She could not praise him enough to friends.
"The child is heavenly," she said often, with a gush of enthusiasm which made some smile, while others were touched, and yet others hoped that the little baronet "wouldn't be a prig!"