Whether she did or did not, Master Tom’s doings seemed to have great interest for the two. When they were talking about him, the old lady would recount with a maternal pride, which from a former knowledge of her character you might never have dreamt she possessed, incidents connected with the childhood of the warrior, to which Lizzie would listen with spell-bound attention.
The dowager would relate how gentle Tom was when teething; how wonderfully he had borne that infantile malady, the measles; what marvellous escape he had had from breaking his neck when he tumbled down the back staircase. And then she would glide on to later experiences, and tell how well Tom got on at school; and how the old colonel of his regiment liked him, as indeed all did with whom the Saxon youngster came in contact.
Lizzie would drink in all this with greedy ears; and never tire of hearing of the deeds and doings of this most extraordinary young man.
So the time passed on, and Lizzie became even more domesticated at The Poplars than she was at the parsonage.
Tom’s mother got to love her; and the young incumbent’s sister, much as she loved her brother, took a deeper interest in the big house and its belongings than she did in Herbert Pringle’s mansion.
Thus while the latter was being pecked ad libitum by the campaigner, Lizzie generally “made herself scarce,” and went up to The Poplars to talk about Tom—the never wearisome subject—with the old dowager.
The campaigner’s rule might be rigid enough, but Lizzie laughed it to scorn. Instead of bandying words with the veteran, our little friend abandoned the field to her completely, and left her “alone in her glory.”
She was unhappy no longer. There was balm in Gilead. Jupiter tonans was propitious: the doctor’s plans successful: the dowager gained over to Lizzie’s cause: the field fought: the battle won.
Who would have thought of the “Fiddle-de-dee”-asserting-dowager ever being in Lizzie’s favour?
The course of true love looked, for a wonder, as if it were going for once to run smooth. Miracles certainly will never cease: this is the age of them!