may merely be raving, after all, and when pressed on the morrow, deny all knowledge of his tale. But I shall petition Admiral Bertie for LaForge's release, and carry him with me down the Solent on Thursday.”
“Let us hope he will survive so long.”
“If you are nursing him, he can do nothing else.” Frank's tone was much softened from the abuse of a quarter-hour previous. I suppressed a smile, and rose to join the others in the dining parlour.
Jane—
I turned at the door.
“I regret what I said regarding your activity at Wool House. I know you undertook the effort solely with a view to aiding Seagrave's case. I am deeply grateful for all that you have done. But—”
“Never fear, my dear,” I said. “I shall sit in the chair farthest from your bride.”
MY MOTHER FELT WELL ENOUGH, ON THE STRENGTH OF Martha's return, to rise from her bed and descend—in all the fuss and state of vinaigrettes, wool shawls, and needlework—to the dining parlour.
“—Tho' I shall not take a chair next to Jane,” she insisted fretfully, “on account of the French; nor yet next to Mary, on account of the baby.”
“Dear ma'am!” cried Martha with hearty good humour. “We have divided you between us! May I enquire what has laid you low, since my going into Berkshire?”
“I cannot like winter”—my mother sighed—”and I fear this shall be my last. Such dreadful spasms, Martha, in my side! Such flutterings at my heart! It is as much as I can do, to take a little tea and bread once each day; and with dear Cassandra gone, nobody pays me very much heed—tho' I am decidedly failing.”
As my mother was, if anything, in better looks now than she had been when Martha quitted Southampton for her sister's home in Berkshire, I could not blame my friend for her aspect of astonishment. The simple truth is that my mother is dreadfully bored in her present situation. She does not like being a guest in someone else's house, particularly if she must pay for the privilege; and the raptures of Frank and Mary's young married life are proving a trial. I have hopes of her amendment, however, when once we are established in our own home. A Castle Square entirely under her command, with Frank returned to sea and Mary at an utter loss as to the rearing of her infant, might give scope to my mother's ambitions. We might live to see her abandon her bed at last.
“Where is dear Frank?” my mother enquired. “Has he deserted the family table yet again?”
“A pressing matter of business,” I supplied, “has detained him. But he begged that I should make his excuses, and urge you all to partake of dinner without regard for his absence.”
Mary lifted her fork with alacrity. We should have another swoon before the evening was out.
“I do not blame dear Mary for the neglect I have endured, my mother assured Martha; “for she has her own indisposition to attend to—tho' for my part, I did not lie upon the sopha half so much for any child, and I bore no less than nine! But I could wish that Jane were more attentive. There is nothing very much to occupy her, now that Trowbridge fellow Is gone off again. A most unsteady, disagreeable man, Martha! Always flying about the Continent in carriages not his own, on business that must not be mentioned, at the behest of some unsavoury character such as the Prince of Wales. I never speak of Trowbridge, of course—but I shall always say he used my daughter remarkably ill. Were I Jane, I should die of a broken heart”
little Mary's eyes were very wide in her round face; her countenance was all pity and regret I suspected I had risen considerably in her estimation for having Suffered a Disappointment
“How happy your return has made me, Martha!” my mother cried. “I might almost think myself restored to the Hampshire of old, with your dear, departed mamma and all my friends about me!”
“You are returned to Hampshire, madam,” I observed crossly. “It is some centuries now since Southampton formed one of the county's principal beauties. There is nothing wrong with you, as you very well know, that a little activity should not cure. You are too much indisposed. Fresh air is what you require.”
“I know that some have called you heartless, Jane, but I did not suspect you of cruelty.” My mother dabbed at her eyes with a square of lawn. “When