Milly Darrell

by M. E. Braddon

drawing-room, while Mrs. Darrelland Mr. Stormont strolled upon the terrace. My dear girl had a sort ofrestless manner to-day, and went from one occupation to another, nowsitting for a few minutes at the piano, playing brief snatches ofpensive melody, now taking up a book, only to throw it down again witha little weary sigh. She seated herself at a table presently, and beganto arrange the sketches in her portfolio. While she was doing this aservant announced Mr. Egerton. She rose hurriedly, blushing as I hadrarely seen her blush before, and looking towards the open window nearher, almost as if she would have liked to make her escape from theroom. It was the first time Angus Egerton had been at Thornleigh Manorsince she was a little child.

  'Tell papa that Mr. Egerton is here, Filby,' she said to the servant.'I think you will find him in the library.'

  She had recovered her self-possession in some measure by the time shecame forward to shake hands with the visitor; and in a few minutes wewere talking in the usual easy friendly way.

  'You see, I have lost no time in calling upon your papa, Miss Darrell,'he said presently. 'I am not too proud to show him how anxious I am toregain his friendship, if, indeed, I ever possessed it.'

  Mr. Darrell came into the room as he was speaking; and however coldlyhe might have intended to receive the master of Cumber Priory, hismanner soon softened and grew more cordial. There was a certain kind ofcharm about Angus Egerton, not very easily to be described, which Ithink had a potent influence upon all who knew him.

  I fancied that Mr. Darrell felt this, and struggled against it, andended by giving way to it. I saw that he watched his daughter closely,even anxiously, when she was talking to Angus Egerton, as if he hadalready some suspicion about the state of her feelings with regard tohim. Mr. Egerton had caught sight of the open portfolio, and hadinsisted on looking over the sketches--not the first of Milly's that hehad seen by a great many. I noticed the grave, almost tender, smilewith which he looked at the little artistic 'bits' out of Cumber Wood.He went on talking to Mr. Darrell all the time he was looking at thesesketches; talking of the neighbourhood and the changes that had comeabout of late years, and a little of the Priory, and his intentionswith regard to improvements.

  'I can only creep along at a snail's pace,' he said; 'for I amdetermined not to get into debt, and I won't sell.'

  'I wonder you never tried to let the priory in all those years that youwere abroad,' suggested Mr. Darrell.

  Mr. Egerton shook his head, with a smile.

  'I couldn't bring myself to that,' he said, 'though I wanted moneybadly enough. There has never been a strange master at Cumber since itbelonged to the Egertons. I daresay it's a foolish piece ofsentimentality on my part; but I had rather fancy the old place rottingslowly to decay than in the occupation of strangers.'

  He was standing by the table where the open portfolio lay, with Millyby his side, and one of the sketches in his hands, when Mrs. Darrellcame in at the window nearest to this little group, and stood on thethreshold looking at him. I think I was the only person who saw herface at that moment. It was so sudden a look that came upon it, a lookhalf terror, half pain, and it passed away so quickly, that I hadscarcely time to distinguish the expression before it was gone; but itwas a look that brought back to my memory the almost forgotten scene inthe little study at Cumber Priory, and set me wondering what it couldbe that made the sight of Angus Egerton, either on canvas or in theflesh, a cause of agitation to Milly's stepmother.

  In the next moment Mr. Darrell was presenting his visitor to his wife;and as the two acknowledged the introduction, I stole a glance at Mr.Egerton's face. It was paler than usual; and the expression of Mrs.Darrell's countenance seemed in a manner reflected in it. It was notpossible that such looks could be without some significance. I feltconvinced that these two people had met before.

  There was a change in Mr. Egerton's manner from the moment of thatintroduction. He laid down Milly's sketch without another word, andstood with his eyes fixed on Augusta Darrell's face with a strangehalf-bewildered look, like a man who doubts the evidence of his ownsenses. Mrs. Darrell, on the contrary, seemed, after that one lookwhich I had seen, quite at her ease, and rattled on gaily about thedelight of travelling in the Tyrol, as compared to the dulness of lifeat Thornleigh.

  'I hope you will enliven us a little, Mr. Egerton,' she said. 'It isquite an agreeable surprise to find a new neighbour.'

  'I ought to be very much flattered by that remark; but I doubt my powerto add to the liveliness of this part of the world. And I do not thinkI shall stay much longer at Cumber.'

  Milly glanced up at him with a surprised look.

  'Mrs. Collingwood told us you were quite settled at the Priory,' shesaid, 'and that you intended to spend the rest of your days as acountry squire.'

  'I may have dreamed such a dream sometimes, Miss Darrell; but there aredreams that never fulfil themselves.'

  He had recovered himself by this time, and spoke in his accustomedtone. Mr. Darrell asked him to dinner on an early day, when I knew theRectory people were coming to us, and the invitation was accepted.

  Julian Stormont had followed Mrs. Darrell in from the terrace, and hadremained in the background, a very attentive listener and observerduring the conversation that followed.

  'So that is Angus Egerton,' he said, when our visitor had left us.

  'Yes, Julian. O, by the bye, I forgot to introduce you; you came in soquietly,' answered Mr. Darrell.

  'I can't say I particularly care about the honour of knowing thatgentleman,' said Mr. Stormont in a half-contemptuous tone.

  'Why not?' Milly asked quickly.

  'Because I never heard any good of him.'

  'But he has reformed, it seems,' said Mr. Darrell, 'and is leadingquite a steady life at Cumber, the Collingwoods tell me. Augusta and Icalled at the Rectory this morning, and the Rector and his wife talkeda good deal of him. I was rather pleased with him, I confess, just now.'

  Milly looked up at her father gratefully. Poor child! how innocentlyand unconsciously she betrayed her secret! and how little she thoughtof the jealous eyes that were watching her! I saw Julian Stormont'sface darken with an angry look, and I knew that he had alreadydiscovered the state of Milly's feelings in relation to Angus Egerton.

  He was still with us when Mr. Egerton came to dinner two days later. Ishall never forget that evening. The day was oppressively warm, withthat dry sultry heat of which there had been so much during the latterpart of the summer; and as the afternoon advanced, the air grew still,that palpable stillness which so often comes before a thunder-storm.Milly had been full of life and vivacity all day, flitting from room toroom with a kind of joyous restlessness. She took unusual pains withher toilette for so simple a party, and came into my room looking likeTitania in her gauzy white dress, with half-blown blush-roses in herhair, and more roses in a bouquet at her waist.

  Mr. Egerton came in a little later than the party from the Rectory, andafter shaking hands with Mr. Darrell, made his way at once to the placewhere Milly and I were sitting.

  'Any more sketching since I was here last, Miss Darrell?' he asked.

  'No. I have been doing nothing for the last day or two.'

  'Do you know I have been thinking of your work in that way a good dealsince I called here. I am stronger in criticism than in execution, youknow. I think I was giving you a little lecture on your shortcomings,wasn't I?'

  'Yes; but you left off so abruptly in the middle of it, that I don'tfancy it was very profitable to me,' Milly answered in rather a piquedtone.

  'Did I really? O yes, I remember. I was quite startled by Mrs.Darrell's appearance. She is so surprisingly like a lady I knew a longtime ago.'

  'That is rather a curious coincidence,' I said.

  'How a coincidence?' asked Mr. Egerton.

  'Mrs. Darrell said almost the same thing about your portrait when wewere at Cumber one day. It reminded her of some one she had known longago.'

  'What an excellent memory you have for small events, Miss Crofton!'said a voice close
behind me.

  It was Mrs. Darrell's. She had come across the room towards us,unobserved by me, at any rate. Whether Angus Egerton had seen her ornot, I do not know. He rose to shake hands with her, and then went ontalking about Milly's sketching.

  Mr. Collingwood took Mrs. Darrell in to dinner, and Mr. Egerton gavehis arm to Milly, and was seated next her at the prettily decoratedtable, upon which there was always a wealth of roses at this time ofyear. I saw Augusta Darrell's eye wander restlessly in that directionmany times during dinner, and I felt that the dear girl I loved sofondly was in an atmosphere of falsehood. What was the nature of thepast acquaintance between those two people? and why was it tacitlydenied by both of them? If it had been an ordinary