The Merryweathers

by Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards

  CHAPTER IX.

  MR. BELLEVILLE

  "MR. CLAUD BELLEVILLE WAS A TALL, PALLID YOUTH."]

  THE Montforts and Jack Ferrers looked up with much curiosity and someapprehension as the twins returned ushering in the unexpected visitor.Mr. and Mrs. Merryweather and the girls welcomed him cordially, butMargaret could not help contrasting their somewhat subdued cheerfulnesswith the joyous outburst that had welcomed herself and Peggy on theirarrival.

  Mr. Claud Belleville was a tall, pallid youth, with blond hair carefullyarranged, pale blue eyes, in one of which an eyeglass was neatly fitted,and a languid air. He spoke with a pronounced English accent, and, onbeing presented to the other guests, said "Oh! very, very, very!" ina most affable tone.

  The Merryweathers bestirred themselves, some bringing dry garments, somepreparing a hasty meal; the guest meanwhile stood in the centre of thehearthstone, and adjured them not to put themselves to inconvenience.

  "Now, my dear people, I beg of you!" he said. "Nothing, positivelynothing, but a biscuit and a cup of tea! Really, now, I cannot allow it.Thanks, Jerry! awfully good of you, don't you know! oh! very, very,very! now, my dear fellow, _not_ your best coat! It is too absurd."

  "It isn't my best, it's my worst!" said Gerald, bluntly.

  "Oh! very good! very diverting! thanks awfully! don't mention it. Well,Cousin Miranda, this is charming; this is positively charming. Sodelightfully primitive, don't you know! oh, very, very, very! I told mypeople that before I went back to Paris I must positively look you up.It is such an age since I have seen any of you. My little cousins areall grown up into young ladies, and such charming young ladies: Icongratulate you, Cousin, _de tout mon coeur_!"

  "Thank you, Claud!" said Mrs. Merryweather, quietly. "I trust yourmother is quite well? I only received her note, and Gerald yours,to-day. She spoke of your coming next week; if we had known that youwere coming to-night, we would have sent to the station for you."

  "Ah, yes; I knew that!" said Mr. Belleville. "I know your hospitalitynever fails, Cousin Miranda. But you know me, too--a butterfly--hereto-day, gone to-morrow! A summons from the Dunderblincks--races going onat their place, don't you know; midsummer _fetes_, that sort ofthing--changed my plans. Mamma said, 'You will have to give up the Camp,_Cheri_!' 'No!' I said. 'They expect me; I have passed my word, it isall I have. I go to the Camp to-day.' I came--I saw--I dare not say Iconquered!" Here he bowed, and threw a killing glance at Gertrude, whowas passing at the moment, carrying the teapot.

  "_Can_ this be the little Gertrude?" he added, addressing her, andlowering his voice to a sentimental half-tone. "She has not forgottenCousin Claud?"

  "Certainly not, Claud!" replied Gertrude, smiling. "It is only threeyears since you were with us at home for two or three weeks. I rememberyou perfectly."

  "Only three years!" murmured Mr. Belleville. "Is it possible? but whatmomentous years! The change from the _petite fille_, the charming child,to the woman, the--but I must not say too much!"

  "You'll burn your bloom--your boots, if you stand so near the fire!"said Gerald, in a growl so threatening that Margaret looked upstartled.

  "_Your_ boots, dear fellow!" Mr. Belleville corrected him. "Right! I ama little near the cheerful blaze. I am a fire-worshipper, you know; oh,very, very, very!"

  "Boys, you'd better see to the boats before you go to bed!" said Mr.Merryweather, speaking for the first time since his greeting of thenewcomer.

  "All right, sir!" said the twins, rising with alacrity. "Jack, will youcome along?"

  "Always thoughtful, Cousin Miles!" said Mr. Belleville. "Always the propof the family! so unchanged!"

  Mr. Merryweather's reply was inarticulate, and its tone caused his wifeto begin hastily a series of inquiries for the visitor's family.

  The twins and Jack Ferrers walked slowly down the slip in the rain. Noone spoke till they reached the float; then Gerald said slowly:"Sapolio--Saccarappa--Sarcophagus--_Squedunk_!"

  "Feel better?" asked his brother, sympathetically.

  "There is one thing," said Gerald, still speaking slowly andemphatically, "that I wish, in this connection, distinctly understood.Indoors he is safe: hospitality--salt--Arabs--that kind of thing. But ifin the immediate proximity of the cleansing flood"--he waved his handtoward the lake--"he continues to patronize the parents, in he goes! Ihave spoken!"

  "I should not presume to restrain my half-hour elder!" said Phil. "Jack,I'm afraid we shall have to put this curled darling in your tent. It'sonly for the night, fortunately."

  "Oh! of course! delighted!" said Jack, somewhat embarrassed.

  "Very, very, very, eh?" said Phil. "Oh! what's the use of makingbelieve, with any one we know so well as you? It's a nuisance, and wedon't pretend it isn't."

  "Mark my words, John Ferrers!" broke in Gerald. "We mean to be civil tothis youth. He is our second cousin, and we know it. He is also ablooming, blossoming, burgeoning Ass, and he doesn't know it. Theyseldom do. We mean, I say, to be civil to him, barring patronage of theparents. He has been our thorn, and we have borne him--at intervals,mercifully not too short--all our lives. But we aren't going to pretendthat we love him, because we don't. No more doesn't he love us.

  "The love that's lost between us Is not the love for me; But there's a flood both fair and broad, In which I'd duck my charming Claud As gladly as could be!"

  . . . . . . .

  "Are you ready?" asked the Chief.

  "Oh! no, Pater! not just yet. My rudder has got fouled with the cargo."

  "Somebody lend me a safety-pin, please! my mainsail is coming loose."

  "Has anybody got any ballast to spare? just one pebble!"

  These cries and many others resounded from the float, where the camperswere gathered, and were putting the last touches to their toy boats.Finally Mr. Merryweather declared that there should be no more delay.The boats were carefully placed in the Ark, a great white rowboat mannedby the Chief and Phil, who proceeded to row out leisurely to awhite-flagged buoy at some distance from the shore. Gerald and Jack inone canoe, Gertrude and Peggy in another, were stationed at either sideof the course; while Margaret and Claud Belleville, in a Rangeley boat,were so placed as to take the time of the various boats as they came in.This arrangement was not satisfactory to all the campers, but whenprotests were made in the family council the night before, Mr.Merryweather had calmly remarked that it was impossible to pleaseeverybody, and that the visitors should be given the post of honor.Gerald muttered that he did not see why Margaret should be butchered tomake a Claudian holiday; to which his father replied that the matter wassettled, and perhaps he, Gerald, would better be seeing to the lanterns.

  "Aren't you a little hard on the boy?" asked Mrs. Merryweather, when sheand her husband were left alone together.

  "He needs something to bite on!" was the reply. "He is going through akind of moral teething."

  This regatta was the first that Margaret had ever seen, and she wasgreatly excited.

  "Tell us when we are just right!" she cried to the Chief as she passedthe Ark. "Oh! anchor by the red flag? yes, I remember, you told mebefore. Now, Mr. Belleville, will you throw out the anchor, please?"

  "Must I?" rejoined Mr. Belleville. "It seems a pity! So charming to rowabout a bit, don't you think? oh! well, if you insist!"--as he metMargaret's horrified gaze. "Here goes!"

  The anchor splashed overboard, and the young man laid down his oars.

  "You take this _au grand serieux_, I see, Miss Montfort, like my goodcousins themselves. I confess I never can attain their perennialyouthfulness, try how I will. I feel a Methuselah, I give you my word Ido. Oh! very, very, very!"

  "I don't understand you," said Margaret, simply. "We are here to takethe time, as the boats pass the line. There is no other object in ourbeing here."

  "No other? Alas! poor Claud!" sighed Mr. Belleville. "Now, to me, MissMontfort, the sailing of toy boats is the smallest possible factor inthis afternoon's pleasure. It is not, belie
ve me, the childish sportthat I shall remember when I am far away."

  "Oh!" said Margaret, vaguely, her eyes on the white boat.

  "You do not ask what it is that I shall carry with me across the ocean?"Claud's voice dropped to its favorite smooth half-tone, what he was fondof describing to his friends as "_ma mi-voix caressante_."

  "There is a glamour, Miss Montfort, a magic, that does not always putitself into words. The perfect day, the perfect vision, will dwell withme--"

  "Oh, look!" cried Margaret, starting forward, eagerly, "they are givingthe signal. Gerald repeats it. Oh, they are off! Look, look, Mr.Belleville! What a pretty sight."

  It was, indeed, a pretty sight. The fairy fleet started in line, theirwhite and brown sails taking the breeze gallantly, their prows (wherethey had prows) dancing over the dancing ripples. One or two provedunruly, turning round and round, and in one case finally turning bottomside up, with hardly a struggle. But most of the little vessels keptfairly well within the course, heading, more or less, for the shore.

  Margaret was enchanted.

  "How wonderfully they keep together!" she said. "Oh! but now they beginto separate. Look, there is a poor little one wobbling off all byitself. I wonder--I am afraid it is Peggy's. Yes, I am sure it is. PoorPeggy! Oh! the first three are going much faster than the rest. I wonderwhose they are. How prettily they sail! Did you ever see anythingprettier?"

  "I see something infinitely prettier," said Mr. Belleville, fixing hiseyes on his companion. But Margaret, wholly unconscious of hislanguishing gaze, was watching the race with an intensity of eagernessthat left no room for any other impressions.

  The three forward boats came on swiftly, their prows dipping lightly,their paper sails spread full to the breeze. Shouts came ringing overthe water, from the other boats, and from the shore, where the rest ofthe campers were gathered in an excited knot.

  "_Jollycumpop!_"

  "_Come-at-a-Body!_"

  "Good work, _Jolly_! Keep it up!"

  "The _Whale_ is gaining. Hit her up, Spermaceti!"

  "_Jollycumpop_ has it! _Jollycumpop!_"

  "The _Jolly is_ first," cried Margaret; "but the _Come-at-a-Body_ isvery, very close. Which do you think will win, Mr. Belleville?"

  "Which do you wish to win?" asked Mr. Belleville.

  "Oh, how can I tell? One is Gertrude's, the other Gerald's."

  "There can be little doubt in that case, I imagine," said ClaudBelleville, with a peculiar smile. "As a matter of simplegallantry--dear me, how unfortunate!"

  As he spoke, his oar slipped from his hand, and fell with a splash intothe water. The _Come-at-a-Body_ was nearest to the Rangeley boat. Theoar did not absolutely touch the tiny vessel, but the shock of thedisturbed water was enough to check her gallant progress. Shepaused,--wavered,--finally recovered herself, and went bravely on. Butin that pause the _Jollycumpop_ crossed the line triumphantly, amid loudacclamations.

  "The little Gertrude wins!" exclaimed Mr. Belleville, recovering his oarwith graceful composure. "We can hardly regret an accident whichcontributes even slightly to give the victory where it so manifestlybelongs, can we, Miss Montfort?"

  But Margaret Montfort turned upon him, her fair face flushed with anger,her gentle eyes full of fire.

  "Mr. Belleville, you dropped that oar on purpose!" she said, quietly.

  "How can you suspect me of such a thing?" replied Mr. Belleville,laughing. "But, _quand meme_! would it have been wholly unjustifiable ifI had done so?"

  "Wholly, to my mind!" said Margaret. "In fact, I cannot imagine such athing being done by any one who--" she checked herself.

  "By any one who is related to these dear people?" said Mr. Belleville,lightly. "Ah! Miss Montfort, a bond of blood does not always mean a bondof sympathy. These dear people bore me, and I bore them. Believe me, itis reciprocal. But do you yourself never tire of this everlastingchildishness, these _jeux d'enfance_, on the part of persons who, afterall, are mostly beyond the nursery?"

  "I do not!" said Margaret, concisely. "If you will take in the anchor,Mr. Belleville, I think I should like to go ashore, if you please."

  "I have offended you!" cried Claud Belleville. "You, to whom from thefirst instant I have felt so irresistibly drawn. I am unfortunate,indeed. But you cannot be seriously angry. Give me a chance to redeemmyself, I implore you, Miss Montfort. See what a charming little coveopens yonder, just opposite. Delightful to drift and dream for an hour,in the company of one who understands--oh, very, very, very."

  "I do not understand," said Margaret, "and I have no desire to do so,Mr. Belleville. I beg you to take me ashore at once,--this moment."

  "And if I were bold enough to delay obedience for a few moments? If Ifelt confident that I could overcome this stern--"

  "Gertrude," called Margaret, as the owner of the victorious_Jollycumpop_ passed them with a triumphant greeting, "can you give us atow?"

  "Certainly," said Gertrude. "Anything wrong?"

  "On the contrary, dear cousin," said Claud, "I challenge you to a race."

  And with a glance at Margaret, half reproachful, half mocking, he bentto his oars, with the first sign of energy he had shown since hisarrival.