Queechy Volume I Part 36

"Further than you can see, Elfie."

"Further than I can see! ? It must be a very large farm."

"This is not a farm where we are now," said he; "did you mean that? This is the park; we are almost at the edge of it on this side."

"What is the difference between a farm and a park?" said Fleda.

"The grounds of a farm are tilled for profit; a park is an uncultivated enclosure, kept merely for men and women and deer to take pleasure in."

"_I_ have taken a good deal of pleasure in it," said Fleda. "And have you a farm besides, Mr. Carleton?"

"A good many, Elfie."

Fleda looked surprised; and then remarked, that it must be very nice to have such a beautiful piece of ground just for pleasure.

She enjoyed it to the full during the few days she was there.

And one thing more, the grand piano in the music-room. The first evening of their arrival she was drawn by the far-off sounds, and Mrs. Carleton seeing it, went immediately to the music-room with her. The room had no light, except from the moonbeams that stole in through two gla.s.s doors which opened upon a particularly private and cherished part of the grounds, in summer-time full of flowers; for, in the very refinement of luxury, delights had been crowded about this favourite apartment. Mr. Carleton was at the instrument, playing. Fleda sat down quietly in one corner, and listened ? in a rapture of pleasure she had hardly ever known from any like source. She did not think it could be greater; till, after a time, in a pause of the music, Mrs. Carleton asked her son to sing a particular ballad; and that one was followed by two or three more. Fleda left her corner ? she could not contain herself, and, favoured by the darkness, came forward; and stood quite near; and if the performer had had light to see by, he would have been gratified with the tribute paid to his power by the unfeigned tears that ran down her cheeks. This pleasure was also repeated from evening to evening.

"Do you know we set off for Paris to-morrow?" said Mrs.

Carleton the last evening of their stay, as Fleda came up to the door after a prolonged ramble in the park, leaving Mr.

Carleton with one or two gardeners at a little distance.

"Yes!" said Fleda, with a sigh that was more than half audible.

"Are you sorry?" said Mrs. Carleton, smiling.

"I cannot be glad," said Fleda, giving a sober look over the lawn.

"Then you like Carleton?"

"Very much! ? it is a prettier place than Queechy."

"But we shall have you here again, dear Fleda," said Mrs.

Carleton, restraining her smile at this, to her, very moderate compliment.

"Perhaps not," said Fleda quietly. "Mr. Carleton said," she added, a minute after, with more animation, "that a park was a place for men and women and deer to take pleasure in. I am sure it is for children too!"

"Did you have a pleasant ride this morning?"

"Oh, very! ? I always do. There isn't anything I like so well."

"What, as to ride on horseback with Guy?" said Mrs. Carleton, looking exceedingly benignant.

"Yes ? unless ?"

"Unless what, my dear Fleda?"

"Unless, perhaps ? I don't know, ? I was going to say, unless perhaps to hear him sing."

Mrs. Carleton's delight was unequivocally expressed; and she promised Fleda that she should have both rides and songs there in plenty another time ? a promise upon which Fleda built no trust at all.

The short journey to Paris was soon made. The next morning Mrs. Carleton, making an excuse of her fatigue, left Guy to end the care he had rather taken upon himself, by delivering his little charge into the hands of her friends. So they drove to the Hotel ?, Rue ?, where Mr. Rossitur had apartments in very handsome style. They found him alone in the saloon.

"Ha! Carleton ? come back again. Just in time ? very glad to see you. And who is this? ? Ah, another little daughter for aunt Lucy."

Mr. Rossitur, who gave them this greeting very cordially, was rather a fine-looking man ? decidedly agreeable both in person and manner. Fleda was pleasantly disappointed after what her grandfather had led her to expect. There might be something of sternness in his expression; people gave him credit for a peremptory, not to say imperious, temper; but, if truly, it could not often meet with opposition. The sense and gentlemanly character which marked his face and bearing had an air of smooth politeness which seemed habitual. There was no want of kindness nor even of tenderness in the way he drew Fleda within his arm and held her there, while he went on talking to Mr. Carleton ? now and then stooping his face to look in at her bonnet and kiss her, which was his only welcome. He said nothing to her after his first question.

He was too busy talking to Guy. He seemed to have a great deal to tell him. There was this for him to see, and that for him to hear, and charming new things which had been done or doing since Mr. Carleton left Paris. The impression upon Fleda's mind after listening awhile was, that the French capital was a great gallery of the fine arts, with a magnified likeness of Mr. Carleton's music-room at one end of' it. She thought her uncle must be most extraordinarily fond of pictures and works of art in general, and must have a great love for seeing company, and hearing people sing. This latter taste, Fleda was disposed to allow, might be a very reasonable one. Mr.

Carleton, she observed, seemed much more cool on the whole subject. But, meanwhile, where was aunt Lucy? ? and had Mr.

Rossitur forgotten the little armful that he held so fast and so perseveringly? No, for here was another kiss, and another look into her face, so kind, that Fleda gave him a piece of her heart from that time.

"Hugh!" said Mr. Rossitur suddenly to somebody she had not seen before ? "Hugh! here is your little cousin. Take her off to your mother."

A child came forward at this bidding, hardly larger than herself. He was a slender, graceful little figure, with nothing of the boy in his face or manner; delicate as a girl, and with something almost melancholy in the gentle sweetness of his countenance. Fleda's confidence was given to it on the instant, which had not been the case with anything in her uncle, and she yielded without reluctance the hand he took to obey his father's command. Before two steps had been taken, however, she suddenly broke away from him, and springing to Mr. Carleton's side, silently laid her hand in his. She made no answer whatever to a light word or two of kindness that he spoke just for her ear. She listened with downcast eyes and a lip that he saw was too unsteady to be trusted, and then after a moment more, without looking, pulled away her hand, and followed her cousin. Hugh did not once get a sight of her face on the way to his mother's room, but owing to her exceeding efforts; and quiet generals.h.i.+p, he never guessed the cause.

There was nothing in her face to raise suspicion, when he reached the door, and opening it, announced her with ?

"Mother, here's cousin Fleda come."

Fleda had seen her aunt before, though several years back, and not long enough to get acquainted with her. But no matter ? it was her mother's sister sitting there, whose face gave her so lovely a welcome at that speech of Hugh's, whose arms were stretched out so eagerly towards her: and springing to them as to a very haven of rest, Fleda wept on her bosom those delicious tears that are only shed where the heart is at home.

And even before they were dried the ties were knit that bound her to her new sphere.

"Who came with you, dear Fleda?" said Mrs. Rossitur then. "Is Mrs. Carleton here? I must go and thank her for bringing you to me."

"_Mr._ Carleton is here." said Hugh.

"I must go and thank him, then. Jump down, dear Fleda ? I'll be back in a minute."

Fleda got off her lap, and stood looking in a kind of enchanted maze, while her aunt hastily arranged her hair at the gla.s.s; ? looking, while fancy and memory were making strong the net in which her heart was caught. She was trying to see something of her mother in one who had shared her blood and her affection so nearly. A miniature of that mother was left to Fleda, and she had studied it till she could hardly persuade herself that she had not some recollection of the original; and now she thought she caught a precious shadow of something like it in her aunt Lucy. Not in those pretty bright eyes which had looked through kind tears so lovingly upon her, but in the graceful ringlets about the temples, the delicate contour of the face, and a something ? Fleda could only have said it was "a something" ? about the mouth when at rest, the shadow of her mother's image rejoiced her heart. Rather that faint shadow of the loved lost one for little Fleda, than any other form or combination of beauty on earth. As she stood fascinated, watching the movements of her aunt's light figure, Fleda drew a long breath with which went off the whole burden of doubt and anxiety that had lain upon her mind ever since the journey began. She had not known it was there, but she felt it go, yet even when that sigh of relief was breathed, and while fancy and feeling were weaving their rich embroidery into the very tissue of Fleda's happiness, most persons would have seen merely that the child looked very sober, and have thought, probably, that she felt very tired and strange.

Perhaps Mrs. Rossitur thought so, for, again tenderly kissing her before she left the room, she told Hugh to take off her things and make her feel at home.

Hugh upon this made Fleda sit down, and proceeded to untie her tippet-strings and take off her coat, with an air of delicate tenderness which showed he had great pleasure in his task, and which made Fleda take a good deal of pleasure in it too.

"Are you tired, cousin Fleda?" said he, gently.

"No," said Fleda ? "O no!"

"Charlton said you were tired on board s.h.i.+p."

"I wasn't tired," said Fleda, in not a little surprise; "I liked it very much."

"Then maybe I mistook. I know Charlton said _he_ was tired, and I thought he said you were too. You know my brother Charlton, don't you?"

"Yes."

" Are you glad to come to Paris?"

"I am glad, now," said Fleda. "I wasn't glad before."

"I am very glad," said Hugh. "I think you will like it. We didn't know you were coming till two or three days ago, when Charlton got here. Do you like to take walks?"