Nevertheless, she accepted the invitation. Not for worlds would Mrs Bathurst have missed a sight of re-decorated Nun's House. Besides, it was her duty to go. She supplied all the gossip of the neighbourhood.
Anxious to see as much as possible of the house, Mrs Bathurst was the first to arrive. Pratt, in a particularly neat evening dress, advanced to meet her and Peggy with a smile. He knew very well that her ungovernable curiosity had led her to be thus early. "I am glad to see you, Mrs Bathurst," he said genially; "pray sit down. You are the first to arrive."
"I always like to be punctual," responded the lady, nodding to her daughter that she also should be seated. "Dear me, how well this room looks! I can see you have spared no expense."
"I like to make myself comfortable, Mrs Bathurst. We only have one life."
"I wonder you care to spend it in such a dull place as Colester. If Mr Bathurst were rich I should make him take me to London."
"You would soon get tired of the roar of that city."
Here Peggy, who was fair and pretty and fond of gaiety, shook her blonde head vigorously. "I should never get tired of fun," she said. "I could go to a dance every night and still want more."
"Ah, Miss Peggy, you are young and active!"
"Well, dear Mr Pratt, you are not old," said Mrs Bathurst, flatteringly; "we must make you happy here. I am sure you are quite an acquisition. We must find you a wife."
"I shall apply to you when I want one," he said, with a laugh; "but I guess I'm not made to run in double harness."
"What odd expressions you use! I daresay that comes from your being an American. Never mind, you'll soon lose all Americanisms here. I look upon you as quite one of ourselves, dear Mr Pratt."
The fact is that Mrs Bathurst wished to bring about a marriage between her daughter Peggy and the newcomer. He had been introduced by Mrs Gabriel, so his social position was secure; and if one could judge from the magnificent furnishing of the house, he was a wealthy man. That Peggy herself should be consulted never entered her mother's head.
Pratt guessed what Mrs Bathurst was after, and chuckled. He had no intention of having the good lady for a mother-in-law. Moreover, he knew that Peggy was in love with Raston, the curate. Nevertheless, having a love of tormenting people, and wishing to punish Mrs Bathurst, he sighed, cast a languishing look at Peggy, and allowed the mother to think that he might be guided by her wish. Seeing this, the lady pushed her advantage vigorously, and was getting on very well by the time the other guests arrived. Then, after some desultory conversation, dealing with the weather and the crops, all went in to dinner.
The table was beautifully set out. The linen was snowy white, the silver and crystal of the best, and the flowers, which Pratt had personally arranged, were skilfully chosen and blended. The women present were rather annoyed that a man should be able to manage a house so well, for the dinner was one of the best that had ever been eaten in Colester, and the service was all that could be desired. What was the use, thought Mrs Bathurst, of suggesting a wife to a man who knew so well how to dispense with one? She could not have arranged things better herself, and it was vexing that a mere man should be able to beat a woman on her own ground.
"You have certainly made a very pretty place of it, Mr Pratt," said Mrs Gabriel, when they returned to the drawing-room. "I suppose you will live here for many a long day?"
"I hope to die here," he replied, smiling. "But one never knows. I may take a fancy to resume my travels."
"You are like Ulysses," put in the vicar, "you know men and cities."
"And, like Ulysses, I don't think much of either, Mr Tempest."
"Come now!" cried Leo, laughing. "I never heard that Ulysses was a cynic."
"He was not modern enough," said Sybil, who was looking particularly charming, much to the anger of Mrs Gabriel, who saw in her a man-trap for her adopted son.
"I don't think cynicism is altogether a modern disease," remarked Sir Frank Hale. "Solomon had not much belief in human nature."
"What could you expect from a man who had so many wives?" put in Pratt, in a dry voice. The remark annoyed Mrs Bathurst. It augured ill for her scheme to marry Peggy. A man who talked thus of women could never be brought to respect his mother-in-law.
While this conversation was taking place Mrs Gabriel kept a vigilant eye on Leo. Whenever he tried to edge up to Sybil she contrived to get in the way, and, finally, by a dexterous move, she placed him 'longside the baronet's sister. Edith Hale was a tall, raw-boned, thin girl, with small pretensions to beauty or wit. She had a freckled skin and red hair, an awkward way of carrying herself and a silent tongue. She was so deeply in love with Leo that she followed his every movement with her eyes, until he found her regard most embarrassing. However, Leo, to avert a storm when he returned home, was obliged to show her every attention, and strolled away with her into Mr Pratt's new conservatory. Sybil looked disappointed, but controlled herself sufficiently to play an accompaniment for Peggy. Raston turned over the leaves of the music, and Mrs Bathurst, with a glance at Pratt, settled herself to listen. As to Mr Tempest, he was moving round the room examining the objects of art in his usual near-sighted way. Seeing everyone thus occupied, Mrs Gabriel drew aside Sir Frank into a convenient corner.
The baronet was a pale-faced, hunchback, lame creature, with a shrewish expression and a pair of brilliant grey eyes. He had been an invalid all his life, and his temper had been spoilt thereby. The only person in the world for whom he cherished the least affection was his sister. In his eyes she was as beautiful as Helen and as clever as Madame de Stael. He knew that she was breaking her heart for Leo, and resented the young man's indifference. And as Hale had the spite of a cripple, his resentment was not to be despised. But Leo did not know that.
"Frank," said Mrs Gabriel, addressing him thus familiarly, as she had known him from his cradle, "I want to speak to you about Leo. It is time he was married. Nothing but marriage will steady him."
"Sybil Tempest is ready enough to become his wife, Mrs Gabriel," snarled the little man. "Why don't you speak to her?"
"Because she is not your sister," replied Mrs Gabriel, coldly. "I do not intend that Leo shall throw himself away on a penniless girl who has nothing but her face to recommend her. Edith has both brains and beauty."
"Leo does not see that," said Hale, who implicitly believed in his companion; "he is infatuated with Sybil. I don't say a word against her," he added hastily; "I want to marry her myself."
Mrs Gabriel looked with secret contempt on the deformed man, and wondered how he could have the impertinence to think that any woman could take him for her husband. However, she was pleased to hear of this new complication. If Sybil could be induced to marry the baronet – and from a worldly point of view the match was a good one – she would be out of the way. In despair Leo might marry Edith, and thus all would be as Mrs Gabriel wanted. She wished to move human beings as puppets to suit her own ends, and never thought that she might be thwarted by the individual will of those with whom she played. However, she had an idea of how to entangle matters so as to carry out her schemes, and commenced her intrigue with the baronet. She knew he would help her, both for his own sake and for the sake of his sister. At the same time she moved warily, so as not to make a false step. It was no easy matter to deal with Hale, as she knew. Once or twice he had got the better of her in business.
"I don't mind being candid with you," said Mrs Gabriel softly. "It is my wish that Leo should marry Edith, and I shall be delighted to help you to become Sybil's husband."
"It's easy saying, but harder doing," said Hale, snappishly. "Sybil is in love with Leo, and the woman who admires Apollo will not look upon Caliban. Oh, I am under no delusions respecting myself," he added, with a hoarse laugh. "I am not agreeable to look upon, but I have money, a title and a good position. Nine women out of ten would be content with these things."
"I am afraid Sybil is the tenth," said Mrs Gabriel, coldly. "However, neither she nor Leo know what is good for them. Help me to marry him to your sister, and then Sybil will fall into your arms."
"Do you think so?"
"I am certain of it."
"How are we to manage?"