"Me, my love! Oh, no! I am too nervous, not half so fitted for the department of nurse as good Miss Tabitha. Those old maids, you know, are calm and useful in their ignorance. I should be nervous, and make you so; Boscawen has arranged very prudently."
Isabel privately confessed to her sisters that if she had only suspected what her matrimony was to end in, nothing should have induced her to marry. That beautiful cloak with the leopard's claw had been of no use; not once had she occasion to wear it. Boscawen made her read history for some hours every day, which she forgot as soon as she closed the books; then Boscawen worried her with lessons of geography, and expected her to understand accounts, and comprehend housekeeping—a thing she detested; perhaps when she became a mother, she might have more power, but at present she was neither more nor less than a girl at school.
Isabel took great notice of Christobelle; and while her elder sisters were absorbed in preparation for their approaching nuptials, she was her companion at all hours; and she loved to have her youngest sister constantly at her side. Mr. Boscawen freely indulged his lady in her love for Christobelle's society, and expressed himself pleased by her selection.
"I can have no objection, Isabel, to your youngest sister being with you, and if you can obtain your father's consent, you can take her to Brierly. I like her turn for reading; you can read together. I do not wish you to be mixed up with the foolish preparations going on among your sisters and mother—jewels and dresses, all nonsense. I wish you to attend particularly to history, that you may not be wanting in necessary information; and I expect your mornings will be devoted to study, as usual. Your youngest sister can be with you, and your studies may proceed together."
"I thought this fortnight was to be a holiday, Mr. Boscawen," said Isabel, mournfully.
"My dear Isabel, you have much to make up, and at your age much is acquired. I was distressed at hearing you assert to my sister a short time since, that you could reach France by land."
"Well, Mr. Boscawen, I did not know to the contrary."
"But you ought to know, my dear Isabel; an ignorant woman at the head of a man's table is terrible. I am continually watching to repair your blunders."
"I made no blunders before I married, Mr. Boscawen."
Mr. Boscawen gave a grim smile at Isabel's assertion, and patted her shoulder with kind feeling.