"If I marry, I must part with Margaretta," she said. "I am her guardian only whilst I am a widow."
"Only for a few years, and though she may go to her grandmother, I will help you still to guard and care for her until she is of age, though, considering all things, she may return to you before then."
The marriage took place; Lady Longridge claimed her ward, and having got possession of Margaretta, succeeded in keeping her out of her mother's presence, except for a short time at the end of every six months, when she was obliged to permit a meeting by the terms of her son's will. Probably if Sir Philip could have foreseen events, he would have rather rejoiced to leave his child in such worthy hands as those of his friend Hugh Norland, in his position of stepfather to Margaretta. But the thought of his wife's second marriage was one he could not endure, so he had ordered matters otherwise, and the girl was with her grim old kinswoman.
"Thorley," said Lady Longridge, after Margaretta's arrival, "we have caged our bird once more, and we shall keep her safely, never fear. The thought of having the charge of her for—let me see—six years to come, will help to keep me alive. I dare say her mother will count my years and say, 'She will not last till Margaretta is of age.' But plenty of people live to eighty-seven, and why not I. I come of a long-lived race; at least the females live long. I am only angry at one thing. Mrs. Hugh Norland has far too much money now. I hate to think of her being rich—far richer than she ever was as Philip's wife. And she will not give a penny towards Margaretta's maintenance, shame on her!"
It was true that Mrs. Norland declined to relieve Lady Longridge's purse, unless she were permitted to have a say in her daughter's education and in spending the money. This granted, she would have given any reasonable amount. But much as the old lady loved to save, she liked still better to punish the daughter-in-law who had once made her fill a secondary position, and she availed herself to the utmost of her powers as the legally appointed guardian of Margaretta.
The girl had a sorry time at Northbrook. She had no companions of her own age, and indeed, visitors of any age were few and far between at the Hall. The rector, a new one in Dr. Darley's place, came, as in duty bound, and always felt, as the door closed behind him, that the most disagreeable of his pastoral calls was over for the time being.
Now and then a carriage would pass along the neglected drive, and ladies would alight from it and spend a short time with Lady Longridge, who, however, never returned such visits.
"I am too old for gadding about, so each call you are good enough to pay will only add to my debts," she would say. "However, it is some comfort to know that nobody cares to see an old lady like me. It is not likely. I hear nothing, so I have nothing to tell, and I miss one-half of what people say through not hearing. Then I repeat the tale wrongly to the next comer, and get into trouble; so you see it would have been better not to hear or speak."
An inquiry after Margaretta usually made the old lady eloquent.
"My granddaughter! I never know where she is, except at meal-times, for she is here, there, and everywhere between-whiles. I hear her often enough—too often, for she is always making a noise which she calls singing. It is a dreadful trial for an old woman like me to be burdened with the charge of a girl. But Philip would not leave her to the tender mercies of a stepfather, and that devoted wife of his would not keep single for the sake of her 'darling child.' Oh no."