Mr. Beresford took his sister’s arrival very calmly. He accepted her halting explanation of her sudden visit to town with the calm of indifference. When he had said he was glad to see her, had he not said all that was necessary? Miss Cherry’s excuse was the dentist, that scourge yet blessing of middle-aged folks. And Cara, too, accepted the explanation with calmness though not with indifference. She led her back to the drawing-room after dinner with a light-hearted playfulness, unlike her usual gravity.
‘How nice it is to have someone sitting opposite,’ she said. ‘Everything looks so cheerful to-night. And now we can talk.’
‘Yes, Cara, as much as you please; and when your papa comes upstairs—— ’
‘Oh, papa never comes upstairs, Aunt Cherry. He does not like this room. Mrs. Meredith has made him come two or three times to try and get him used to it; but he never looks happy here.’
‘Then you go down to the library and sit with him there?’
‘Ought I to do that? He never said so, and I did not like to do it out of my own head. And then he goes out——’
‘How lonely for you, my darling.’
‘Yes, it is lonely. Sometimes I feel a little frightened. It is so quiet; listen!’ said the girl, drawing nearer to her companion’s side. ‘I don’t mind to-night when you are here; but there is not a sound—Cook and John shut all the doors to keep the house quiet for papa; but, oh! I should be so glad sometimes if I could hear them in the kitchen for company! I know it is very silly. Why should I be afraid? No one could come here but mamma, and she would never do harm to me, only good; and yet I feel sometimes as if I could not bear it. How is it, I wonder? This is London, and the Hill is the country; but one always heard something stirring there.’
‘My dearest!’ said kind Miss Cherry, crying over her; ‘my own child! If I had known, if I could have thought you were left so much to yourself! But, dear, you see a great deal of the people next door. That must cheer you up: tell me about them. There is Mrs. Meredith—she used to be a very nice woman; are you fond of her, Cara? And then there are her sons——’