CHAPTER XXI.
THE MOTHER.
WHILST the children away in the Rocky Bay were in the midst of their perilous enterprise, the Squire was sitting alone in his library, quietly engrossed in his books and papers.
Visitors so very rarely disturbed him, visitors were almost unknown at the Manor House, and therefore it was with a good deal of surprise that he heard that Mr. and Mrs. Arbuthnot were in the drawing-room, anxious to speak to him at once.
The Squire was much perplexed for a moment even to know who these people could be, but Pritchard, who observed his master’s surprise, added, respectfully,—
“Sir Walter’s brother, sir,—Mr. Frederick, as he is often called,—and the lady from Australia whom he has lately married.”
The Squire remembered all about it then, for of course he had heard from Bertie and from others of Uncle Fred’s marriage and of his purchase of the adjoining property. He had been pleased to hear of the change, for he had always liked the baronet’s brother; but he had not even heard of his arrival at Arlingham, and he could not imagine what could have brought him and his wife so quickly to the Manor House.
However, there they were, and he must go and see them, so he crossed over to the drawing-room without delay. Uncle Fred and his wife were standing with their backs to the door, looking intently at a crayon head of Bertie, that the Squire had lately had taken by a clever young artist in the neighborhood. They both turned round quickly when their host entered, and he saw that the lady’s eyes were full of tears, and that they were soft dark eyes very like Bertie’s own.
He greeted his guests courteously, and even in the first moments of introduction he was struck by the sweetness of the lady’s face. He almost fancied there was something familiar in the cast of the features, but, however that might be, there was no doubt at all as to the charm of her voice and manner,—a charm which seemed to arise in part from the shadow of some settled sadness bravely borne, that had faded away in the sunshine of a present happiness.