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Flat Iron for a Farthing, A
Chapter 30. I Meet The Heiress...
Juliana Horatia Ewing
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       _ CHAPTER XXX. I MEET THE HEIRESS--I FIND MYSELF MISTAKEN ON MANY POINTS--A NEW KNOT IN THE FAMILY COMPLICATIONS
       Leo came to the Hall. "His" heiress came to the Towers, but not "mine." She was to follow shortly.
       I could not make out how matters stood between Leo and Polly. When Damer came, Polly was three times as _brusque_ with him as with any of us; he himself seemed dreamy, and just as usual.
       We went to dine at the Towers. We were rather late. Leo, in right of his rank, took a dowager of position in to dinner. Our host led me across the room, and introduced me to "Miss Chislett."
       [Illustration: It was only a quiet dinner party, and Miss Chislett had brought out her needlework.]
       She was not the sort of person I expected. It just flashed across me that I understood something of Polly's remark about Frances Chislett making her feel "rough." My cousins were ladies in every sense of the term, but Miss Chislett had a certain perfection of courteous grace and dignified refinement, in every word, and gesture, and attitude, as utterly natural to her as the vigorous tread of any barefooted peasant girl, and which one does meet with (but by no means invariably) among women of the highest class in England. Her dignity fell short of haughtiness (which is not high breeding, and is very easy of assumption); her grace and courtesy were the simple results of constant and skilful consideration for other people, and of a self-respect sufficient to dispense with self-consciousness. The advantage of wealth was evident in the exquisite taste and general effect of her costume. She was not beautiful, and yet I felt disposed for an angry argument with my cousins on the subject of her looks. Her head was nobly shaped, her figure was tall and beautiful, her grey eyes haunted one. I never took any lady to dinner who gave me so little trouble. When we had been together for two minutes, I felt as if I had known her for years.
       "Well, what do you think of her?" said Polly, when we met in the drawing-room. Polly had been taken in by Mr. Clerke, and they had neither of them paid much attention to what the other was saying. Maria had said "yes" and "no" alternately to the observations of the elderly and Honourable Mr. Edward Glynn; but as he was deaf this mattered the less.
       "Was I right?" said Polly.
       "No," said I; "she's not a bit strong-minded." Polly laughed.
       "I'll say one thing for her," said I; "I don't mind how often I take her in to dinner. She doesn't expect you to make conversation."
       "Why, my dear Regie," said Polly, "you've been talking the whole of dinner-time!"
       Leo had seated himself by the heiress. Poor Polly's eyes kept wandering towards them, and (I suppose, because I had heard so much about her) so did mine. It was only a quiet dinner-party, and Miss Chislett had brought out her needlework, some gossamer lace affair, and Leo leant over the sofa where she sat, playing with the contents of her workbox. Polly's eyes and mine were not the only ones turned towards them. Ours was not the only interest in the future Lady Damer.
       Aunt Maria carried Polly off to the piano to "give us a little music," and I sat down and stultified myself with an album at the table, and Frances Chislett chatted with Sir Lionel. They were close by me, and every word they said was audible. It was the veriest chit-chat, and Leo's remarks on the little bunch of charms and knicknacks that he found in the workbox seemed trivial to foolishness. "I'd no idea Damer was so empty-headed," I thought, and I rather despised Miss Chislett for smiling at his feeble conversation.
       "I often wonder what's the use of farthings," I heard him say as he turned one over in the bunch of knicknacks. "They won't buy anything (unless it's a box of matches). They only help tradesmen to cheat when they're 'selling off.'"
       "I beg your pardon," said Miss Chislett, "I have bought most charming things for a farthing each."
       "So have I," said I, turning round on my chair, and joining in the conversation, which seemed less purposeless after I began to take part in it. Leo looked at us both with a puzzled air.
       "Frying-pans, for instance," said Miss Chislett.
       "--and gridirons," said I.
       "Plates, knives, and forks," said the heiress.
       "--and flat irons," I concluded; playing involuntarily with the blob of lead which still hung at my watch-chain.
       Polly had finished her performance, and was now standing near us. She understood the allusion, and laughed.
       "Do _you_ know what they're talking about?" asked Sir Lionel, going up to her. I sat down by the heiress.
       "Were you ever at Oakford?" she asked, turning her grey eyes on me. She spoke almost abruptly, and with a touch of imperiousness that suddenly recalled to me where I had seen those eyes before.
       "Certainly," said I, "and at the tinsmith's."
       "What were you doing there?" she asked, and after all these years there was no mistaking the accent and gesture of the little lady of the grey beaver. Before she had well begun her apology for the question, I had answered it,
       "BUYING A FLAT IRON FOR A FARTHING."
       * * * * *
       "Well, you've gone it hard to-night, old fellow," said Damer, as we drove away from the Towers. "You and Miss Chislett will be county talk for six months to come."
       "Nonsense," said I, "we knew each other years ago, and had a good deal to talk about."
       But to Polly, as we parted for the night in the corridor, I said, "My dear child, to add to all the family complications, I'm head over ears in love with the future Lady Damer." _
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本书目录

Preface
Chapter 1. Motherless
Chapter 2. "The Look"--Rubens--Mrs. Bundle Again
Chapter 3. The Dark Lady--Trouble Impending--Beautiful, Golden Mamma
Chapter 4. Aunt Maria--The Enemy Routed--London Town
Chapter 5. My Cousins--Miss Blomfield--The Boy In Black
Chapter 6. The Little Baronet--Dolls--Cinder Parcels...
Chapter 7. Polly And I Resolve To Be "Very Religious"...
Chapter 8. Visiting The Sick
Chapter 9. "Peace Be To This House"
Chapter 10. Convalescence--Matrimonial Intentions...
Chapter 11. The Tinsmith's--The Beaver Bonnets...
Chapter 12. The Little Ladies Again--The Meads--The Drowned Doll
Chapter 13. Polly--The Pew And The Pulpit--The Fate Of The Flat Iron
Chapter 14. Rubens And I "Drop In" At The Rectory...
Chapter 15. Nurse Bundle Is Magnanimous--Mr. Gray...
Chapter 16. The Real Mr. Gray--Nurse Bundle Regards Him With Disfavour
Chapter 17. I Fail To Teach Latin To Mrs. Bundle...
Chapter 18. The Asthmatic Old Gentleman And His Riddles...
Chapter 19. The Tutor--The Parish--A New Contributor To The Alms-Box
Chapter 20. The Tutor's Proposal--A Teachers' Meeting
Chapter 21. Oakford Once More--The Satin Chairs...
Chapter 22. Nurse Bundle Finds A Vocation...
Chapter 23. I Go To Eton--My Master--I Serve Him Well
Chapter 24. Collections--Leo's Letter--Nurse Bundle And Sir Lionel
Chapter 25. The Death Of Rubens--Polly's News--Last Times
Chapter 26. I Hear From Mr. Jonathan Andrewes--Yorkshire...
Chapter 27. The New Rector--Aunt Maria Tries To Find Him A Wife...
Chapter 28. I Believe Myself To Be Broken-Hearted...
Chapter 29. The Future Lady Damer--Polly Has A Secret--Under The Mulberry-Tree
Chapter 30. I Meet The Heiress...
Chapter 31. My Lady Frances--The Future Lady Damer...
Chapter 32. We Come Home--Mrs. Bundle Quits Service