The Marmadukes were not at all a puny family; on the contrary, they were all rather above the ordinary size. Mr. Marmaduke was extremely broad and red and stout; Mrs. Marmaduke was an angular and bony-framed woman, with aquiline features and a figure which towered above all the other ladies present; the lady’s-maid took after her mistress in stature and became Newbolt’s detestation on the spot; the pug dog was so large that he could scarcely be considered thoroughbred; and the parrot was a full-grown bird and the shrillest of its species. The four young Marmadukes took after their parents and were extremely well developed. The eldest girl was thirteen; her name was Clementina; she had a very fat face and a large appetite. The boys, named Dick and Will, were sturdy specimens; and Abigail, or Abby, the youngest of the group, was considerably spoiled and put on many airs, which made her insufferable to Kitty and Phil.
The Marmadukes arrived in a body, and without any efforts on their own parts or the smallest desire that way on the part of the old ladies they took Avonsyde by storm. They seemed to fill the whole house and to pervade the grounds, and to make their presence felt wherever they turned. They entertained themselves and suggested what places they should go to see, and announced the hours at which they would like best to dine and what times they would wish the Avonsyde carriage to be in attendance. Miss Griselda was petrified at what she was pleased to term the manners of the great Babylon. Miss Katharine received several snubs at the style of friends she kept, and only the fact that they were distantly connected with the Lovels, and that their visit must terminate within ten days, prevented Miss Griselda from being positively rude to such unwelcome inmates.
“Phil,” said Rachel on the second morning after the arrival of this obnoxious household, “if Clementina thinks she is going to get the upper hand of me any more she is finely mistaken. What do I care for her Kensington Gardens and that pony she rides in the Row! I don’t suppose she knows how to ride—not really; for I asked her yesterday if she could ride barebacked, and she stared at me, and turned up her lip, and said in such a mincing voice, ‘We don’t do that kind of thing in London.’ Phil, I hate her; I really do! I don’t know how I’m to endure her for the next week. She walks about with me and is so condescending to me; and I can’t endure it—no, I can’t! Oh, I wish I could do something to humble her!”
“Poor Rachel!” said Phil in his sweet, pitying voice, and a tender, beautiful light which is born of sympathy filled his eyes. “I know Clementina is not your sort, Rachel,” he said, “and I only wish she would talk to me and leave you alone.”
Rachel laughed and leaned her hand affectionately on Phil’s shoulder.
“I don’t wish that,” she said. “I don’t want to ease myself by adding to your burdens; you have quite enough with Dick and Will. You must hate them just as much as I hate Clementina.”
“Oh, I don’t hate them at all,” said Phil. “They are not my sort; they are not the style of boys I like best, but I get on all right with them; and as to hating, I never hated any one in all my life.”
“Well, I have,” said Rachel. “And the one I hate most now in all the world is Clementina Marmaduke! Oh, here they are, all coming to meet us; and doesn’t poor Kitty look bored to death?”
Phil glanced wistfully from one sister to another, and then he ran up to Clementina and began to chat to her in a very eager and animated voice. He was evidently suggesting something which pleased her, for she smiled and nodded her head several times. Phil said, “I’ll bring them to you in a moment or two,” and ran off.
“What have you asked Phil to do?” asked Rachel angrily. “He’s not a strong boy—at least, not very strong, and he mustn’t be sent racing about.”