"Do you not admire him—your son?" she said eagerly, slipping up close to Victoria. "Can he jump and swim rivers—on his horse—and come down mountains—on his haunches—like our cavalleria? I am certain he can!"
"He can do most things on a horse. When the hunting begins, you will see," said Victoria, smiling in spite of herself.
"Tell me, please, what is the hunting? And about the shooting, too. Lord Tatham told me—this afternoon—some ladies shoot. Oh, but I will learn to shoot! I swear it—yes! Now tell me!"
Thus attacked, the formidable Victoria capitulated. She was soon in the midst of stories of her Harry, from his first pony upward. And she had not gone far before a tiny hand slipped itself into hers and nestled there; moving and quivering occasionally, like a wild bird voluntarily tame. And when the drive ended, Victoria was quite sorry to lose its lithe softness.
XVI
Victoria very soon perceived that a crisis had come and gone. She had been accustomed for a while before they went to Scotland to send about once a week a basket of flowers and fruit from the famous gardens of Duddon, with her "kind regards" to Mrs. Penfold. The basket was generally brought into the hall, and Tatham would slip into it the new books or magazines that seemed to him likely to attract the cottage party. He had always taken a particular pleasure in the dispatch of the basket, and in the contrivance of some new offering of which it might be the bearer. Victoria, on the other hand, though usually a lavish giver, had taken but a grudging part in the business, and merely to please her son.
On the day following the visit to the cottage, the basket, in obedience to a standing order, lay in the hall as usual, heaped with a gorgeous mass of the earliest chrysanthemums. Victoria observed it—with an unfriendly eye—as she passed through the hall on her way to breakfast.
Harry came up behind her, and she turned to give him her morning kiss.
"Please don't send it," he said abruptly, pointing to the basket. "It wouldn't be welcome."
She started, but made no reply. They went into breakfast. Victoria gave the butler directions that the flowers should be sent to the Rectory.