Volume I Part 20 (2/2)
so get to bed, that's a good girl, as fast as you can.... There are some things too much even for an angel to bear!”
Agnes crept to her little bed, and soon cried herself to sleep.
CHAPTER XVIII.
CONDITIONS OF AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN MRS. PETERS AND HER DAUGHTERS.--MRS.
BARNABY BEGINS HER FAs.h.i.+ONABLE CAREER UNDER THE PROTECTION OF MISS ELIZABETH.--SHE REHEa.r.s.eS A BALL IN HER HEART AS SHE EXAMINES THE ROOM.--THE LIBRARY.
Mrs. Barnaby was quite right in thinking that the Peters family would be very useful acquaintance; for prodigiously as Mrs. Peters disliked her sister-in-law, she no sooner ceased to be galled by her unwelcome presence in her house, than she recovered her good-humour, and felt as much aware as any reasonable person could desire, of the claim her brother's widow really had upon her and her family. These excellent dispositions were a.s.siduously fostered by her daughters, to whose wishes she never turned a deaf ear. She found the eldest and the youngest very seriously interested in Agnes, and earnest in their desire to see more of her; while Elizabeth persevered in her belief that poor Mrs. Barnaby was one of the very best-hearted women in the world, and very much to be pitied, because n.o.body seemed to like her ... though she _did_ mean to divide her fortune so generously amongst them.
”I hope, mamma,” said the eldest Miss Peters, when the ladies of the family were sitting round the drawing-room fire after dinner, ”I hope that you will overcome your terror of Mrs. Barnaby and her rouge sufficiently before Tuesday night to permit her joining our party in the ball-room, for I would not forsake that sweet Agnes upon such an occasion for more than I will say.”
”Why, I do feel my spirits revive, Mary, considerably, since I have felt quite certain that none of my dear sister's amiable feelings were likely to involve me in the necessity of enduring her presence in my house for evermore. You may fancy you exaggerate, perhaps, when you talk of my terrors; ... but no such thing, believe me. It was terror she inspired, and nothing short of it.”
”And Agnes, mamma?... what did she inspire?” said Mary.
”Pity and admiration,” replied her mother.
”Very well, then,” returned the petted girl, kissing her, ”we shall not quarrel this time; but I was half afraid of it. It would, in truth, have been very foolish, and very unlike you, mamma, who understand the sort of thing better than most people, I believe, if we had lost the great pleasure of being kind to Miss Willoughby, and behaved extremely ill to uncle Barnaby's widow into the bargain, solely because you don't like tall ma.s.sive ladies, with large black eyes, who wear rouge, and talk fine; ... for you must confess, if you will be quite honest and speak the truth, that Mrs. Peters is rather too well-established a person at Clifton, to fear losing caste by being seen with a Mrs. Barnaby, even had the a.s.sociation not been redeemed by the matchless elegance of her beautiful niece.”
”Did any one ever hear a mamma better scolded?” said Mrs. Peters, turning to the younger girls.
”Mary is quite right, mamma,” said Lucy. ”Depend upon it we should have broken into open rebellion, had you persevered in threatening to cut the Barnaby connexion.”
”Indeed I must say,” added Elizabeth, ”that I have thought you very severe upon our poor aunt, mamma. Think of her kindness!”
”Our aunt!” sighed Mrs. Peters. ”Is it absolutely necessary, beloveds!
that she should be addressed in public by that tender t.i.tle?”
”Not absolutely, perhaps,” replied Mary, laughing; ”and I dare say Elizabeth will make a bargain with you, mamma, never to call her aunt again, provided you promise never to forget that she is our aunt, though we may not call her so.”
”And what must I do, young ladies, to prove my eternal recollection of this agreeable tact?”
”You must be very civil to Agnes, and let them both join our party at tea, and at all the b.a.l.l.s, and never object to our calling upon the Barnaby, for the sake of getting at the Willoughby, and ... now don't start, and turn restive, mamma, ... you must ask them whenever we have an evening party here with young people, that might be likely to give Agnes pleasure.”
”And must I embrace Mrs. Barnaby every time she comes into my presence, and every time she leaves it?”
”No, ... unless you have done something so very outrageously rude before, as to render such a penitentiary _amende_ necessary.”
”Come here, Mary,” said the gay mother, ”and let me box your ears immediately.”
The young lady placed herself very obediently on the foot-stool at Mrs.
Peters's feet, who having patted each pretty cheek, said, ”Now tell me, Mary, if you can, what it is that has thus fascinated your affections, hoodwinked your judgment, perverted your taste, and extinguished your pride?”
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