CHAPTER XXVI
DORA COMES AND SEES
The call by the Bannisters at Cobhurst was made as planned. Had storm orsudden war prevented Mrs. Bannister and Herbert from going, Dora wouldhave gone by herself. She did not appear to be in her usual state ofhealth that day, and Mrs. Bannister, noticing this, and attributing it toDora's great fondness for fruit at this season and neglect of more solidfood, had suggested that perhaps it might be well for her not to take along drive that afternoon. But this remark was added to the thousandsuggestions made by the elder lady and not accepted by the younger.
Miriam was in the great hall when the Bannister family drove up, and shegreeted her visitors with a well-poised affability which rather surprisedMrs. Bannister. Dora instantly noticed that she was better dressed thanshe had yet seen her.
When they were seated in the parlor, Mrs. Bannister announced that theircall was intended to include Mrs. Drane and her daughter, and Herberthoped that this time he would be able to see Mr. Haverley.
Mrs. Drane was sent for, but Miriam did not know where her brother andMiss Drane should be looked for. She had seen them walk by the backpiazza, but did not notice in what direction they had gone. At thismoment there ran through Dora a sensation similar to that occasioned by amild galvanic shock, but as she was looking out of the open door, therest of the company saw no signs of this.
"Excuse me," said Mrs. Bannister, in a low voice, and speaking ratherrapidly, "but I thought that Miss Drane was working for Dr. Tolbridge,copying, or something of that kind."
"She is," answered Miriam, "but she has her regular hours, and stops atfive o'clock, just as she did when she was in the doctor's house."
When Mrs. Drane had appeared and the visitors had been presented, Miriamsaid that she would go herself and look for Ralph and Miss Drane. Shethought now that it was very likely they were in the orchard.
"Let me go with, you," exclaimed Dora, springing to her feet, and in amoment she and Miriam had left the house.
"I heard her say," said Miriam, "that she wanted some summer apples,fresh from the tree, and that is the reason why I suppose they are in theorchard. You never knew anybody so wild about country things as MissDrane is. And she knows so little about them too."
"Do you like her?" asked Dora.
"Ever so much. I think she is as nice as can be. She is a good deal olderthan I am, but sometimes it seems as if it were the other way. I supposeone reason is that she wants to know so much, and I think I must like totell people things--nice people, I mean."
Dora's mind was in a state of lively receptivity, and it received animpression from Miriam's words that might be of use hereafter. But nowthey had reached the orchard, and there, standing on a low branch of atree, was Ralph, and below was Miss Drane. Her laughing face was turnedupward, and she was holding her straw hat to catch an apple, but it wasplain that she was not skilled in that sort of exercise, and when theapple dropped, it barely touched the rim of the hat and rolled upon theground, and then they both laughed as if they had known each other fortwenty years.
"What a little thing," said Miss Bannister.
"She is small," answered Miriam, "but isn't she pretty and graceful? Andher clothes fit her so beautifully. I am sure you will like her."
Ralph came down from the tree, the straw hat was replaced on the head ofMiss Drane, and then came introduction and greeting. Never before hadDora Bannister found it so hard to meet any one as she found it to meetthese two. She was only eighteen, and had had no experience in comportingherself in an ordinary way when her every impulse prompted her to do orsay something quite extraordinary. But she was a girl who could controlherself, and she now controlled herself so well, that had Miss Panney orMrs. Tolbridge been there they would instantly have suspected what wasmeant by so much self-control. She greeted Miss Drane with much suavity,and asked her if she liked apples.
As the party started for the house, Dora, who was a quick walker, was notso quick as usual, and Ralph naturally slackened his pace a little. In afew moments Miriam and Miss Drane were hurrying toward the house,considerably in advance of the others.
"It is so nice," said Dora, "for your sister to have ladies in the housewith her. I have been wanting to see her ever so much, and was afraidsomething was the matter with her, especially as you did not come foryour dog."
As Ralph was explaining his apparent ungraciousness, Dora's soul wasroughly shaken. She was angry with him and wanted to show it, but she sawclearly that this would be unsafe. Her hold upon him was very slight, anda few unwise words now might make him no more than a mere acquaintance.She did not wish to say words that would do that, but if she held him bya cord ever so slender, she would obey the promptings of her soul andendeavor to draw him a little toward her. She would take the risks ofthat, for if he drifted away from her, the cord would be as likely tobreak as if she drew upon it.
"Oh yes," she said, "I knew all the time why you and Miriam did not cometo make a regular society call, but I did suppose that you would drop into see about Congo. As soon as I got home, after I promised him to you, Ibegan to educate him to cease to care for me, and to care for you. If youhad been there, all this would have been easy enough, but as it was, Ihad to get Herbert or the coachman to take him out walking at the times Iused to take him, and when he was tied up I kept away from his littlehouse altogether, so that he should become accustomed to do without me. Istopped feeding him, and made Herbert do that whenever he had time, and Iinsisted that he should wear a big straw hat, which he does not like, butwhich is a good deal like the one you wear, and which I thought mighthave an influence on the mind of Congo."
This touched Ralph, and he did not wish that Miss Bannister shouldsuppose that he thought so little of a gift of which she thought so much.And in order to entirely remove any suspicion of ungratefulness, heendeavored to make her understand that he had wished very much to go tosee the dog, but wished much more to go to see her.
"I hate a great many of these social rules," he said, "and although I didnot know any of the rest of your family, I knew you, and felt very muchinclined to call on you and let the customs take care of themselves."
"I wish you had!" exclaimed Dora; "I like to see people brave enough totrample on customs."
Her spirits were rising, and she walked still slower. This tete-a-tetewas very delightful to Ralph, but he had no desire to trample on allsocial customs, and his feelings of courteous hospitality urged him to goas rapidly as possible to greet the special visitor who was waiting forhim; but to desert that gentleman's sister, or make her walk quickly whenshe did not wish to, was equally opposed to his ideas of courtesy, and soit happened that Dora and Ralph entered the parlor so much later than theothers that a decided impression was made on the minds of Mrs. and MissDrane. And this was what Dora wished. She felt that it would be a verygood thing in this case to assert some sort of a preemption claim. Itcould do no harm, and might be of great service.
After the manner of the country gentlemen who in mixed society are apt toprefer their own sex for purposes of converse, Herbert Bannistermonopolized Ralph. His sister talked with Cicely Drane, and in spite ofher natural courage and the reasons for self-confidence which she hadjust received, Dora's spirits steadily fell as she conversed with thismerry, attractive girl, who knew so well how to make herselfentertaining, even to other girls, and who was actually living in RalphHaverley's house.
Dora made the visit shorter than it otherwise would have been. She hadcome, she had seen, and she wanted to go home and think about the rest ofthe business. The drive home was, in a degree, pleasant because Herberthad a great deal to say about Mr. Haverley, whom he had found mostagreeable, and because Mrs. Bannister spoke in praise of Ralph's manlybeauty, but it would depend upon future circumstances whether or notremarks of this kind could be considered entirely satisfactory.
That evening, in her own room, in a loose dressing-gown, and with herhair hanging over her shoulders, Dora devoted herself to an earnestconsideration of her relations
with Ralph Haverley. At first sight itseemed odd that there should be any relations at all, for she had knownhim but a short time, and he had made few or no advances toward her--nothalf so many or such pronounced ones as other men had made, during herfew visits to fashionable resorts. But she settled this part of thequestion very promptly.
"I like him better than anybody I have ever seen," she said to herself."In fact, I love him, and now--" and then she went on to consider therest of the matter, which was not so easy to settle.
Cicely Drane was terribly hard to settle. There was that girl,--all themore dangerous because, being charming and little, a man would be moreapt to treat her as a good comrade than if she were charming andtall,--who was with him all the time. And how she would be with him,Dora's imagination readily perceived, because she knew how she herselfwould be with him under the circumstances. Before breakfast in the dewygrass, gathering apples; during work hours, talking through the openwindow as he chanced to pass; after five o'clock, walks in the orchard,walks over the farm, in the woods everywhere, and always those twotogether, because there were four of them. How much worse it was thatthere were four of them! And the evenings, moonlight, starlight; on thepiazza; good-night on the stairs--it was maddening to think of.
But, nevertheless, she thought of it hour after hour, with no otherresult than to become more and more convinced that she was truly in lovewith a man who had never given any sign that he loved her, and that therewas every reason to believe that when he gave a sign that he loved, itwould be to another woman, and not to her.
She rose and looked out of the window. A piece of the moon, far gone inthe third quarter, was rising above a mass of evergreens. She had acourageous young soul, and the waning brightness of the lovers' orb didnot affect her as a disheartening sign.
"It is not right," she said to herself. "I will not do it. I will nothang like an apple on a tree for any one to pick who chooses, or ifnobody chooses, to drop down to the chickens and pigs. A woman has asmuch right to try to do the best for herself as a man has to try to dothe best for himself. I can't really trample on customs as a man can, butI can do it in my mind, and I do it now. I love him, and I will get himif I can."
With this Dora sat down, and left the bit of moon to shed whatluminousness it could over the landscape.
Her resolution shed a certain luminousness over Dora's soul. Todetermine to do a thing is nearly always inspiriting.
"Yes," she thought, "I will do what I can. He has promised to come verysoon, and he shall not have Congo the first time he comes. He shall come,and I shall go, and I shall be great friends with Miriam. There will benothing false in that, for I like her ever so much, and I shall rememberto think more of what she likes. No one shall see me break down anycustoms of society,--especially, he shall not,--but out of my mind theyare swept and utterly gone."
Having thus shaped her course, Dora thought she would go to bed. Butsuddenly an idea struck her, and she stood and pondered.
"I believe," she said, speaking aloud in her earnestness, "I believethat that is what Miss Panney meant. She has spoken so well of him tome; she has heard about that girl, and she said, yes, she certainly didsay, 'It shall be done.' She wants it, I truly believe; she wants me tomarry him."
For a few minutes she stood gazing at her ring, and then she said,--
"I will go to her; I will tell her everything. It will be a great thingto have Miss Panney on my side. She does not care for customs, and shewill never breathe a word to a soul."
Dr. Tolbridge was not mistaken in his estimate of the sort of mind DoraBannister would have when she should shed her old one.
The Girl at Cobhurst Page 26
