“Who will you be wanting to ask?” he queried anxiously. “Never did I meet such an exacting child! My mouth’s no sooner opened than you are ready to jump inside! ‘A wonderful programme,’ says she. And who’s to pay for it, may I ask? You would ruin me between you, you children, if I hadn’t saved you the trouble long ago. How much will this entertainment be costing me now?”
“Oh, twopence halfpenny! Not more than that. We will kill the old turkey, that is so tough that he is fairly pleading to be killed, and use up the dessert from Christmas, and Mademoiselle shall make us some of her fine French dishes, and there will be so much going on that there will be very little time to eat. Make your mind easy, and trust to me.”
“I’ll see you through!” cried Esmeralda grandly; whereupon the Major shrugged his shoulders, and reflected cheerfully that a few pounds more or less made little difference. Let the girl have her way! she had been kept too long in seclusion as it was, and what was the use of possessing the most beautiful daughter in the county if you could not show her off to your friends once in a while?
Silence was rightly interpreted as consent, and having gained her point, Esmeralda was wreathed in smiles and amiability for the rest of the evening.
The Major dispensed with his toga at an early hour, and Nun and Ghost alike shed their wrappings and appeared in ordinary evening dress; but Esmeralda was too complacently conscious of looking her best to make any change in her attire. Dinner passed hilariously enough, and then, the rain having ceased, the Major put on his coat and went out for a walk in the grounds, while the ladies retired to their snuggery upstairs and made themselves comfortable round the fire. To them entered presently Master Pat, white knight no longer, but an ordinary shabby stripling with pensive eyes and an innocent expression. He sat himself down in leisurely fashion, and gazed at his second sister with melancholy interest, as one far removed from youthful follies and grieved to behold them in those he held dear.
“You are the only one who has kept on her dress! I suppose you don’t mind what you suffer, so long as you make an appearance! It’s a pity, as you said, that there is no one to admire you, but if you would like to meet a stranger, why don’t you go for a walk down the left wing and back by the hall? The moonlight is shining in at the windows, and you know the old saying that if you walk by yourself in the moonlight to-night you will see the spirit of your future husband waiting for you! You might have a peep at him now, and come back and tell us what he is like!”
Esmeralda turned her head on the cushion, and looked at him with a lazy smile.
“What nonsense are you talking? You are thinking of Hallowe’en, stupid! That has nothing to do with to-day!”
“It has, then! It’s just as good as Christmas Eve. We been told so by those that know, but you want to get out of it because you haven’t the pluck. All girls are afraid of the dark.”
“You said yourself it was moonlight! I shouldn’t be afraid to walk the whole round of the Castle if it came to that, but I don’t see why I should. I’m snug and comfortable here, and it’s not worth disturbing myself to convince a boy like you!”