"And you will be my little sister still, after all these years?" he asked, holding her hands in brotherly fashion.
"Why, Harvey, as if anything could ever alter that!" she cried.
[CHAPTER V.]
RIGHT AND WRONG.
"So you have never blamed me for my long absence, Hermione!"
More than an hour had passed since Harvey's first sight of his young cousin. Mr. Dalrymple, after taking a cup of tea, and declining cake, had returned to the library, rather to Hermione's surprise. This was usually his accessible hour, if callers chose to come. Three callers did choose to come, and they stayed long, but Mr. Dalrymple failed to reappear. Hermione acted hostess with ease and grace, introducing her newly-arrived relative, dispensing tea, and keeping up conversation, her sunny sweetness never for an instant eclipsed.
Harvey watched her in some wonder. He had not expected this development as a result of her "rustic" training and retired life. Perhaps the absence of self-consciousness surprised him most; she had been such a "vain little puss," he told himself, at eleven; and then he almost thought that a touch of girlish shyness at nineteen may be prettier than too complete self-possession. Yet how could he wish anything altered when the entire effect was so charming? And after all, was there really no consciousness of others' very patent admiration? Not a conceited consciousness, but a happy confidence in being able to please everybody. If it were so, was that a blemish?
He did not trouble himself to help her much in the way of talk. These people, Mr., Mrs., and Miss Dalton, from a neighbouring village, were comparative new-comers, and not interesting to him, not half so interesting as was Hermione. Harvey commonly followed his own inclinations in the matter of making himself agreeable.
So he let the chit-chat flow on, sparkling on the part of Hermione, and more or less ponderous on the part of the other three, only putting in a few words here and there when politeness rendered the exertion a necessity, and keeping his attention fixed on Hermione without appearing to do so. The Daltons, who, though not brilliant themselves, could appreciate brilliancy in another, found him "gentlemanly, but tedious— a rather dull person for one who had travelled so much, and not to be compared with that delightful old Mr. Dalrymple."
Harvey cared not a whit whether they liked him or no. He was only amused at the variety of subjects which Hermione had at command for their entertainment. She really did not need his aid. Miss Dalton was a busy Parish-worker, and seemed to own no ideas beyond Parish work, so Hermione went the round of schools, districts, and cottages with her, smilingly interested all the while. Mrs. Dalton was literary and semi-scientific in her tastes, therefore Hermione launched out into a little sea of recent publications and discoveries for the elder lady's edification. Mr. Dalton was a dabbler in political and controversial subjects, and Hermione gave her opinion upon each suggested point in turn, not conceitedly or disagreeably, but with a gentle decision, and perhaps a sense that her opinion was not altogether to be despised. Harvey could not help calling to mind Marjory's words, "We all look up to her!" Did Mr. Dalton too "look up" to this young creature of nineteen? His manner was most deferential.