Was I glad when my life was unexpectedly taken out of my own hands, and my wild dream of entertaining Mercedes and inviting the Forwoods at the same time, was suddenly realised? I cannot tell. I have felt emotions called forth by an extraordinary position, therefore cannot classify them.
My first step when I received a few words from Mercedes, that she and her husband would come here, was to come down myself and see to things, after sending off Ralph a few days in advance.
A surprise awaited me. I had certainly given mammy carte blanche to pledge my credit to any reasonable amount, but hardly considered how thoroughly she would set to work. I scarcely recognised the old brougham under its new paint and varnish, nor Andrew the groom in his brand-new livery. As I drove through the wood, the roads were in capital condition, the young trees were flourishing, the desolate look had gone. The same with the garden—the beds bright with flowers, the turf close shaven. The house? The house looked as when I first saw it—the veranda and shutters bright green, the creepers carefully trailed.
Rover, poor old Nero’s descendant after I don’t know how many generations, came leaping about me quite delighted at the change about him; and there, at the hall-door, stood mammy in a very becoming cap, quite the mistress of the mansion. Ralph came springing out more like other lads than I have yet seen him. Poor boy! I felt a pang of remorse. Has my barren life overshadowed his? Heaven forgive me if it has! I thought I was doing my best.
The hall had been modernised, the billiard-table renovated. But the drawing-room! Could it be the room where I saw Lilia leaning against the piano? The brown draperies, the neutral tints had disappeared. It was gold and white everywhere: the room had positively a bridal look, and even the plants in the white flower-stands were white and yellow.
“This looks a thorough woman’s den,” I remarked. “If I were left to myself, I should not set my foot across the threshold.”
“Don’t be churlish,” mammy said. “You have invited a princess, and you must entertain her properly, especially as it is only for once.”
“Why only for once?” I asked.
Poor innocent mammy! how little she suspected who it was she was to play hostess to.
“I thought they lived in Spain?” she said, looking curiously at me.