"Of course I shall," he replied, smiling rather oddly.
I knew he loved me dearly. I looked up at him with some pride; he looked down with an ardent fondness that went to my very heart. Unasked, I promised not to remain more than a week away.
In the course of the next day Mrs. Brand called for me. Cornelius had gone out early, and had not come in. I told Kate to bid him adieu, and tell him I should not remain beyond the week. She smiled.
"A week, child!" she said; "be glad if he lets you remain three days away."
I laughed, kissed her, and entered the light and elegant open carriage in which Mrs. Brand had condescendingly come to visit her obscure little cousin.
CHAPTER XV.
There is a way of leaning back in an open carriage which only those accustomed to its use can attain—a sort of well-bred indolence—of riding over the world—of indifference to its concerns, which requires long and constant practice. Mrs. Brand possessed that art in the highest degree. Walking in the street, she would have seemed a thin, faded, insignificant woman; but, reclining in her carriage, with her ennuy? air, her carelessness, and her impertinence, she was stamped with aristocracy.
We had soon reached Poplar Lodge. It stood about a mile from the Grove, by the lanes, and twice that distance by the high road. I knew the place well—it was small, but the most beautiful residence in the neighbourhood. It stood in the centre of lovely pleasure-grounds—a white and elegant abode, filled with all that could charm the fancy and attract the eye. Pictures, statues, books, furniture, simple yet costly, were there, without that profusion which mars the effect of the most beautiful things. Mrs. Brand perceived my admiration, and led me from room to room with careless ostentation. At length, we came to a small gallery, filled with exquisite pictures.
"There are not many," she said, negligently, "but they are good. All modern, and almost all English. The blank spaces which you see will, I dare say, be filled up from this year's Academy."
My heart beat fast. I thought at once of Cornelius, and I saw his three pictures already hung up in my cousin's gallery.