It may be imagined that some very palpable and sufficient cause was at work to induce society thus to stand on the defensive towards these new-comers. Nothing of the kind. All the evidence against them was shadowy; all the charges such as denied detail. They were an odd set, they lived in a strange fashion, they knew nobody; and to accusations like these even spotless integrity must succumb.
Dressed in a robe de chambre that would have made the fortune of a French Vaudeville actor, with a gold-tasselled fez, and slippers to match, the Captain sat, smoking a splendid meerschaum, in a well-cushioned chair, while his daughter was engaged at her embroidery, opposite to him. Though it was midwinter, the sun streamed in through the orange-trees on the terrace, and made a rainbow of the spray that dashed from the marble fountain. The room itself combined all the sumptuous luxury we understand by the word “comfort,” with the graceful elegance of a Southern existence. There were flowers and fresh air, and the song of birds to be enjoyed on the softest of sofas and the best carpeted of floors.
A large goblet of some amber-colored drink, in which a rock of pure ice floated, stood at the Captain's elbow, and he sipped and puffed, with his head thrown well back, in an attitude that to smokers must have some Elysian ecstasy. Nor was his daughter the least ornamental part of the situation; a morning dress of white muslin, tastefully trimmed with sky-blue ribbons, and a rich fall of Brussels lace over her head, making a very charming picture of the graceful figure that now bent over the embroidery-frame.
“I tell you it won't do, Loo,” said he, removing his pipe, and speaking in a firm and almost authoritative voice. “I have been thinking a great deal over it, and you must positively get away from this.”
“I know that too,” said she, calmly; “and I could have managed it easily enough but for this promised visit of Charles. He comes through on his way to Malta, and Sir William would not hear of anything that risked the chance of seeing him.”
“I 'd rather risk that than run the hazards we daily do in this place,” said he, gravely.
“You forget, papa, that he knows nothing of these hazards. He is eager to see his son, for what he naturally thinks may be the last time. I 'm sure I did my best to prevent the meeting. I wrote to Lord Agincourt; I wrote to Charles himself. I represented all the peril the agitation might occasion his father, and how seriously the parting might affect a constitution so impressionable as his, but to no purpose; he coldly replies, 'Nothing short of my father's refusal to see me shall prevent my coming to see him,' or 'embrace him,' or—I forget the words, but the meaning is, that come he will, and that his arrival may be counted on before the end of the week.”
“What stay will he make?”
“He speaks of three or four days at farthest. We can learn the limit easily enough by the time of the P. and O. steamer's sailing. Ask for it at the banker's.”
“I don't call in there now,” said he, peevishly. “Since they took down my name for the Club-ballot, I have not gone to the bank.”