it was a perfect summer's evening. the sun had just set, and purple, gold, violet, rose colour still filled the sky in the west. there was a tender new moon, looking like a silver bow, also to be seen; before long the evening star would be visible.
hester thornton stepped out of the drawing-room at the grange, and, walking a little way down the broad gravel sweep, began to listen intently. hester was about seventeen—a slender girl for her age. her eyes were dark, her eyebrows somewhat strongly marked, her abundant hair, of a much lighter shade of brown, was coiled in close folds round her well-shaped head. her lips were slightly compressed, her chin showed determination. hester had not been beautiful as a child, and she was not beautiful as a girl, but her face was pleasant to look at, very bright when animated, very steadfast and sweet when in repose. the air was like nectar to her cheeks. she was naturally a pale girl, but a faint rose colour was now discernible in her complexion, and the [pg 2]look of expectation in her dark eyes made them charming.
a step was heard on the gravel behind, and she turned quickly.
"is that you, father?" she exclaimed.
"yes. are not you very imprudent to come out at this hour in your thin house shoes, and with nothing on your head? there is a very heavy dew falling."
"oh, i never take cold," replied hester with a smile, which showed her even and pretty white teeth; "and i certainly shan't to-night," she continued, "for i am feeling far too excited."
sir john thornton was considered by most of his acquaintances (he could boast of scarcely any friends) as a reserved and almost repellent person, but now, as his eyes rested on his young daughter, something seemed to soften their expression; he took her slight hand and drew it affectionately through his arm.
"it takes a small thing to excite you, my love," he said; "but you always were of a turbulent disposition—just your poor mother over again."
hester sighed faintly when sir john spoke of his wife, then she quickly cheered up and said in an eager voice—
"you don't call it a little thing, father, to know that in a minute or two i shall welcome nan back from school? nan comes to-night—annie forest to-morrow. it would be difficult for any girl to want more to make her perfectly happy."
sir john raised his brows.
"i only know miss forest by hearsay," he said, "so i will reserve my judgment upon her; but i do know nan. she will upset the entire régime of the [pg 3]house. i like order, and she likes disorder. i like quiet meals, she likes uproarious ones. i hate shocks and she adores them. i am glad, of course, to welcome the child home, but at the same time i dread her arrival. i cannot possibly understand how it is that mrs. willis, who is supposed to be such a splendid instructor of youth, should not have brought nan a little better into control. now, you, my dear hetty, are very different. you have passions and feelings—no one has them more strongly—but you keep them in check. your reticence and your reserve please me much. in short, hester, no father could have a more admirable daughter to live with him. i am pleased with you, my dear; the experiment of having you home from school to look after my house has turned out well. there is nothing i would not do to please you, and while your friend miss forest is here, i will do my best to render her visit a success. the only discordant element will be nan. i cannot understand why mrs. willis has not got nan into the same control she had you in."
"you forget," said hester, "that i am seventeen and nan only eight. no one ever yet could say 'no' to nan. father, don't you hear the carriage wheels? she is coming—i know she is coming. please forgive me, i must run to meet her."
sir john released his daughter's hand, and hester flew with the speed of an arrow from a bow up the long avenue. she was not mistaken. her keen ears had detected the smooth roll of wheels. a landau drawn by a pair of horses had even now entered the lodge gates. hester, looking up, heard some gay voices, some childish laughter. then an imperious [pg 4]voice shouted to the coachman to pull up the horses and nan thornton and another girl sprang out of the carriage and ran to hester's side.
confused utterances, sundry embraces, the quick intermingling of ejaculations, kisses, commands, explanatory remarks—all rose on the sweet night air.
"hetty, you look quite grown up. please, jenkins, you can drive on to the house. i'm not getting in again. aren't you glad to see me, het? i have come back a greater tease and torment than ever."
"yes, nan, delighted—more than delighted. oh! you sweet, how nice it is to feel you kissing me! why, annie, how did you happen to come to-night? i didn't expect you until to-morrow. i was wondering how i could endure the next twenty-four hours of expectation, even with nan to keep me company, and now you are here. oh, how very, very glad i am."
"kiss me, hester," said annie. "nan and i concocted this little plan. we thought we'd take you by surprise. oh dear, oh dear, i feel so wild and excited that i'm sure i shall be just as troublesome as i used to be before you tamed me down at school. now then, nan, you are not to have all the kisses. hester, dear, how sweet and gracious and prim and lady-of-the-manorish you do look!"
"i don't care what i look like, i only know what i feel," replied hester: "about the happiest girl in england. but don't let us stand here talking any longer, or father will take it into his head that i am catching cold in the night air. here, nan, take my arm. annie, my other side is at your disposal. now, do let us come to the house."
the girls began to move slowly down the long winding avenue. nan had the pretty, soft dark [pg 5]eyes which used to characterise her as a little child. her abundant fluffy golden hair hung below her waist. her baby lips and sweet little face looked as charming as of old. she was a very pretty child, and promised to be a beautiful woman by-and-by. her beauty, however, was nothing at all beside the radiant sort of loveliness which annie forest possessed. she was a creature all moods, all expression, all life, all movement. she had early given promise of remarkable beauty, and this had been more than fulfilled. hester glanced at her now and again in the most loving admiration.
"it is good to have you back, nan," she said, "and it is delightful to know that you have come at last to pay your long, long promised visit," she continued, looking at annie. "well, here we are at home. nan, you must go up and show yourself to nurse this minute. annie, let me take you to your room."
"dear old nursey," said nan; she rushed up the stairs, shouting her old nurse's name as she went; her quick footsteps flew down the long corridor, she pushed open the baize door which separated the nurseries from the rest of the house, and in a moment found herself in the old room.
nan's nurse was a cherry-cheeked old woman of between sixty and seventy years of age.
"eh, my darling, and how did you get back without me hearing the sound of the carriage wheels!" she exclaimed. "eh dear, eh dear, i meant to be down on the front steps to greet you, miss nan. eh, but you look bonny, and let me examine your hair, dear—i hope they cut the points regular. if they don't, it will break away and not keep even."
[pg 6]
"oh, don't bother about my hair now," said nan. "what does hair signify when a child has just got home, and when she wants a kiss more than anything else in the world? now, nursey, sit down in that low armchair and let us have a real hug. that's better; and how are you? you look as jolly as ever."
"so i am, my pet; i'm as happy as the day is long since miss hetty has come home and took the housekeeping over. i was in a mortal fret before, with her at school and you at school, but now i think the danger is past."
"what danger?" asked nan; "you always were a dear old croak, you know, nurse."
"yes, pet, perhaps so; but i didn't fret without reason, you may be quite sure of that."
"well, what were you afraid of? you know i'm an awfully curious girl, so you must tell me."
"it's a sin to be too curious, miss nan—it leads people into untold mischief. curiosity was the sin of eve, and it's best to nip it in the bud while you're young. now let me brush out your hair, my darling, and get you ready for supper."
"yes, in a minute," said nan. she pushed back the shady hat in which she had traveled, and seated herself afresh on her nurse's knee.
"how do my kisses feel?" she asked, breathing a very soft one on each of the old woman's cheeks.
"eh, dear," said the nurse, "they're like fresh cream and strawberries."
"well, you shall have six more if you tell me what your fears were."
nurse looked admiringly back at nan.
"you're just the audacious, contrary, troublesome bit of a thing you always were," she said; "but [pg 7]somehow i can't resist you. there's no fear now of anything happening, so you needn't be in a taking; but what did put me out was this: i thought your father, sir john, might be bringing a new mistress here."
"what! a new mistress?—a housekeeper, do you mean?" nan's brown eyes were open at their widest.
"no, dearie, no, a wife—someone to take the head of the house. men like sir john must have their comforts, and a house without a mistress isn't as it ought to be. but there, miss hetty is here now, and that makes everything right."
"but a new mistress," repeated nan—"a new wife for father. why, she—she'd be a stepmother. oh, how i'd hate her."
"well, darling, there's not going to be any such person; it was only an idle fear of your poor old nurse's that will never come to anything. forget that i said it to you, miss nan. oh, my word! and there's the gong, so supper is ready, and sir john won't like to be kept waiting. let me brush out your hair, i won't be a minute. now, there's my pretty. it's good to have you back again, miss nancy. only i misdoubt me that you'll turn the house topsy-turvey, as you always and ever did."
while nurse was speaking, she was deftly and quickly changing nan's travel-stained frock for a white one, and was tying a coral pink sash round her waist.
"now you're ready," she said, giving the little figure a final pat.
nan shook out her golden mane and went demurely downstairs—more demurely than was her wont. the dawning of possible trouble filled her [pg 8]sweet eyes. a new wife—a possible stepmother! oh, no, by no possibility could such a horror be coming; nevertheless, her full cup of happiness was vaguely troubled by the thought.
