"A dull rotation, never at a stay,Yesterday"s face twin image of to-day."
COWPER.
"Of what each one should be, he sees the form and rule,And till he reach to that, his joy can ne"er be full."
RUCKERT.
It was very well for Margaret that the extreme quiet of the Harley Streethouse, during Edith"s recovery from her confinement, gave her thenatural rest which she needed. It gave her time to comprehend thesudden change which had taken place in her circumstances within thelast two months. She found herself at once an inmate of a luxurioushouse, where the bare knowledge of the existence of every trouble orcare seemed scarcely to have penetrated. The wheels of the machineryof daily life were well oiled, and went along with delicious smoothness.
Mrs. Shaw and Edith could hardly make enough of Margaret, on herreturn to what they persisted in calling her home. And she felt that itwas almost ungrateful in her to have a secret feeling that the Helstonevicarage--nay, even the poor little house at Milton, with her anxiousfather and her invalid mother, and all the small household cares ofcomparative poverty, composed her idea of home. Edith was impatientto get well, in order to fill Margaret"s bed-room with all the softcomforts, and pretty nick-knacks, with which her own abounded. Mrs.
Shaw and her maid found plenty of occupation in restoring Margaret"swardrobe to a state of elegant variety. Captain Lennox was easy, kind,and gentlemanly; sate with his wife in her dressing-room an hour or twoevery day; played with his little boy for another hour, and lounged awaythe rest of his time at his club, when he was not engaged out to dinner.
Just before Margaret had recovered from her necessity for quiet andrepose--before she had begun to feel her life wanting and dull--Edithcame down-stairs and resumed her usual part in the household; andMargaret fell into the old habit of watching, and admiring, andministering to her cousin. She gladly took all charge of the semblancesof duties off Edith"s hands; answered notes, reminded her ofengagements, tended her when no gaiety was in prospect, and she wasconsequently rather inclined to fancy herself ill. But all the rest of thefamily were in the full business of the London season, and Margaretwas often left alone. Then her thoughts went back to Milton, with astrange sense of the contrast between the life there, and here. She wasgetting surfeited of the eventless ease in which no struggle or endeavourwas required. She was afraid lest she should even become sleepilydeadened into forgetfulness of anything beyond the life which waslapping her round with luxury. There might be toilers and moilers therein London, but she never saw them; the very servants lived in anunderground world of their own, of which she knew neither the hopesnor the fears; they only seemed to start into existence when some wantor whim of their master and mistress needed them. There was a strangeunsatisfied vacuum in Margaret"s heart and mode of life; and, oncewhen she had dimly hinted this to Edith, the latter, wearied with dancing the night before, languidly stroked Margaret"s cheek as she satby her in the old attitude,--she on a footstool by the sofa where Edithlay.
"Poor child!" said Edith. "It is a little sad for you to be left, night afternight, just at this time when all the world is so gay. But we shall behaving our dinner-parties soon--as soon as Henry comes back fromcircuit--and then there will be a little pleasant variety for you. Nowonder it is moped, poor darling!"
Margaret did not feel as if the dinner-parties would be a panacea. ButEdith piqued herself on her dinner-parties; "so different," as she said,"from the old dowager dinners under mamma"s regime;" and Mrs. Shawherself seemed to take exactly the same kind of pleasure in the verydifferent arrangements and circle of acquaintances which were toCaptain and Mrs. Lennox"s taste, as she did in the more formal andponderous entertainments which she herself used to give. CaptainLennox was always extremely kind and brotherly to Margaret. She wasreally very fond of him, excepting when he was anxiously attentive toEdith"s dress and appearance, with a view to her beauty making asufficient impression on the world. Then all the latent Vashti inMargaret was roused, and she could hardly keep herself fromexpressing her feelings.
The course of Margaret"s day was this; a quiet hour or two before a latebreakfast; an unpunctual meal, lazily eaten by weary and half-awakepeople, but yet at which, in all its dragged-out length, she was expectedto be present, because, directly afterwards, came a discussion of plans,at which, although they none of them concerned her, she was expectedto give her sympathy, if she could not assist with her advice; an endlessnumber of notes to write, which Edith invariably left to her, with manycaressing compliments as to her eloquence du billet; a little play withSholto as he returned from his morning"s walk; besides the care of thechildren during the servants" dinner; a drive or callers; and some dinneror morning engagement for her aunt and cousins, which left Margaretfree, it is true, but rather wearied with the inactivity of the day, comingupon depressed spirits and delicate health.
