From this time there was a great deal of intercourse between the two young ladies, sometimes carried on by notes, which Charles most frequently brought over, but more often by visits from the cousins to their friends at the Vicarage; for Hilary could not again be tempted to “the Ferns;” and therefore Victoria, who was always wanting her advice, had to seek her at home.
Often the elder lady accompanied them, and insisted on taking out the clergyman for a drive, while the young people settled their concerns together: half the notes of invitation, at least, were written by Hilary’s hand, and plans for ornament or amusement suggested by her head.
The younger girls were wild at the prospect of such an unexpected pleasure; and as there were to be numbers of children of the party, Nest was included among the visitors.
Mr. and Mrs. Paine necessarily often came in for these conferences, although they did not intend to have any share in the grand fête, Mrs. Paine’s health at the time affording her a rational excuse for avoiding excitement and fatigue.
Their domestic party at Primrose Bank was in due time reinforced by the promised visit of Dora Barham, who made her appearance at the Vicarage the next day; and whatever might have been the state of her health on leaving London, she certainly was glowing enough when introduced to her darling Hilary’s tall brother.
The handsome young officer, with the frank gratitude natural to him, made a little advance toward shaking hands with the pretty young woman, to whom he was so essentially obliged; an advance which would have been instantly checked and cut short by recollections of what cold courtesy required, had she not perceived both the first motion and the subsequent impulse. More anxious to save him from awkward feelings than scrupulous about etiquette, she gave him her hand with a charming grace and a bewitching smile, from the powerful effect of
which Maurice did not recover for the rest of the morning, at least.
Half an hour afterward, the party was scattered considerably; Mr. Duncan and Gwyneth out driving with Mrs. Fielding; Maurice, Sybil, and Dora, sauntering along the terrace in the garden; Mr. and Mrs. Paine, quietly at work in the school; and Hilary seated between Victoria and Charles, talking over plans, smoothing difficulties, and showing how impossibilities even might be conquered or set aside.
Several days slipped by, much in the same way. Dora was a heedless girl, and more than once left a bracelet or a handkerchief at the Vicarage, which made it indispensable that Maurice should go over to Primrose Bank, to return it, on those mornings when she did not intend to come to the Vicarage; and this intercourse was carried on to such an extent, that Mrs. Paine became seriously alarmed for the result. She knew Mr. Barham well, and was perfectly certain that any attachment to a poor lieutenant, on his daughter’s part, must be as little to his taste as aloes to a child. To remonstrate with Dora, would infallibly make matters worse, if she had any inclination in his favor; and poor Mrs. Paine most heartily wished that she had never undertaken a charge of so delicate and difficult a nature, as the care of her young cousin.
To her great relief, however, before ten days had passed, Mr. Barham and Isabel came down for a few days to the Abbey, and Dora was summoned home immediately. Maurice regretted it much; but poor Dora, who had permitted her imagination to be most unwisely occupied by the charms of her new acquaintance, felt it a great deal more; and now looked forward to the grand fête at “the Ferns” as a day of possible felicity, because it would throw her once more into his society. She made some effort to go over to the Vicarage once or twice; but Isabel seemed backward to do it, observing, that now Hilary had her brother, it made a difference; and poor Dora, only too conscious that it did make a most important difference, dared not press a proposal of the kind, from this very consciousness. Whether