The Long Vacation
Page 27
Then the traveller in the dark Thanks you for your tiny spark; He would not know which way to go If you did not twinkle so.--JANE TAYLOR.
And so they came to Buda, where Charles Audley represented Englishdiplomatic interests on the banks of the Danube. When the quaint oldsemi-oriental-looking city came in sight and the train stopped, the neatEnglish-looking carriage, with gay Hungarian postillions, could be seendrawn up to meet them outside the station.
Charles and his father, now Sir Robert, were receiving them withoutstretched hands and joyous words, and in a few seconds more they werewith their little Stella! Yes, their little Stella still, as Clement andCherry had time to see, when Gerald and the two girls had insisted onwalking, however far it might be, with the two Audleys, though Charlietold them that no one ever walked in Hungary who could help it, and thathe should be stared at for bringing such strange animals.
Geraldine had stayed with Stella once before, and Clement had made onehurried and distressful rush in the trouble about Angela; but thatwas at Munich, and nearly nine years ago, before the many changes andchances of life had come to them. To Stella those years had brought twolittle boys, whose appearance in the world had been delayed till theAudley family had begun to get anxious for an heir, but while theUnderwoods thought it was well that their parents, especially theirfather, should have time to grow a little older.
And Stella looked as daintily, delicately pretty as ever, at first sightlike a china shepherdess to be put under a glass shade, but on a secondview, with a thoughtful sweetness and depth in her face that made hernot merely pretty but lovely. How happy she was, gazing at her brotherand sister, and now and then putting a question to bring out theoverflow of home news, so dear to her. For she was still their silentstar, making very few words evince her intense interest and sympathy.
Even when they were at home, in the house that looked outside like acastle in a romance, but which was so truly English within, and the twolittle fellows of four and three came toddling to meet her, shrinkinginto her skirts at sight of the new uncle and aunt, there was a quietgentle firmness--all the old Stella--in her dealings with them, as shedrew them to kiss and greet the strangers. Robbie and Theodore weresturdy, rosy beings, full of life, but perfectly amenable to thatsweet low voice. Their father and grandfather might romp with them toscreaming pitch, and idolize them almost to spoiling, yet they too wereunder that gentle check which the young wife exercised on all around.
She was only thirty-one, and so small, so fair and young in looks, thatto her elder sister her pretty matronly rule _would_ at first seem likethe management of a dolls' house, even though her servants, English,German, or Magyar, obeyed her implicitly; and for that matter, asCharlie and Sir Robert freely and merrily avowed, so did they. The youngsecretary was her bounden slave, and held her as the ideal woman, thoughthere came to be a little swerving of his allegiance towards the talland beautiful Franceska, who had insensibly improved greatly in graceand readiness on her travels, and quite dazzled the Hungarians; whileAnna was immensely exultant, and used to come to her aunt's room everynight to talk of her lovely Francie as a safety-valve from discussingthe matter with Francie herself, who remained perfectly simple andunconscious of her own charms. Geraldine could not think them quiteequal to the more exquisite and delicately-finished, as well as morematured, beauty of little Stella, but that was a matter of taste.
The household was more English than Hungarian, or even German, and therewere curious similitudes to the Vale Leston Priory arrangements, whichkept Stella's Underwood heart in mind. There had to be receptions, andit was plain that when she put Fernan's diamonds on, Mrs. Audley wasquite at home and at perfect ease in German and Hungarian society,speaking the languages without hesitation when she _did_ speak, while inher quiet way keeping every one entertained, showing the art de tenir unsalon, and moreover, preserving Francie from obtrusive admiration in away perhaps learnt by experience on that more perilous subject, Angela,who had invited what Francie shrank from. The two girls were supremelyhappy, and Francie seemed to have a fountain of joy that diffused arose-coloured spray over everything.
One of the famous concerts of Hungarian gipsies was given, and in thatClement and Geraldine were alike startled by tones recalling those ofthe memorable concert at Bexley, all the more because they seemed tohave a curious fascination for Gerald. Moreover, those peculiar eyes andeyelashes, the first link observed between him and the Little Butterfly,were so often repeated in the gipsy band that it was plain whence theywere derived. Charles Audley thought it worth while to find means ofinquiry among the gipsies as to whether anything was known of ZorayaPrebel or her brother Sebastian; but after some delay and variousexcitements nothing was discovered, but that there had been a family,who were esteemed recreants to their race, and had sold their childrento the managers of German or Italian bands of musicians. One brother hadcome back a broken man, who had learnt vices and ruined himself, thoughhe talked largely of his wonderful success in company with his sister,who had made grand marriages. What had become of her he did not know;and when Gerald went with Mr. Audley to a little mountain valley tovisit him, he had been dead for a week or more.
All this had made some delay, and it was almost the end of the longvacation. Charles Audley undertook to go to Trieste with the travellers,and make inquiries about Zoraya and her first husband. Sir Robert, theSkipper, as the family still termed him, had written for his yacht tomeet him there, and be ready for him to convey the party to Sicily.He professed that he could not lose sight of Franceska, with whom hedeclared himself nearly as much smitten as ever he had been with hisdaughter-in-law.
They left that pretty creature in her happy home, and arrived atTrieste, where Charles Audley set various agencies to work, and arrivedat a remembrance of Giovanni Benista, an impresario, having been in astate of great fury at his wife, his most able performer, having fledfrom him just as he had been at the expense of training and making hervaluable. He tried to have her pursued, but there was reason to thinkthat she had been smuggled away in an English or American ship, andnothing could be done.
Thus much of the story then was confirmed, and Gerald had little or nodoubt of the rest of it, but he was obliged to leave the pursuit ofthe quest to his uncle and aunt, being somewhat consoled for having toreturn to England by the expectation of hearing from Mr. Maurice Mohun.
Twice he returned for his aunt's last kiss, nay, even a third time, andthen with the half-choked words, "My true, my dearest mother!"
And he absolutely bent his knee as he asked for his uncle Clement'sblessing.
CHAPTER XXVII. -- THE RED MANTLE