A Search For A Secret: A Novel. Vol. 1 Page 8

  CHAPTER VIII.

  INTRODUCED TO THE WORLD.

  About three months after I left school for good I received an invitationto go up to London and stay for a month with Ada Desborough. This was agreat event. Ada told me that her mother was going to give a grand ball,at which she was to come out, and that I should be formally introducedto the world upon the same occasion; and she remarked that she flatteredherself that society in general ought to rejoice at the advent of twosuch charming votaries at its shrine. She added, in a postscript, thather brother Percy would be at home on leave.

  I was, of course, delighted at the prospect of a month of real Londonlife, with its balls and operas, and looked forward to my visit as ifgoing into fairy-land. Mr. Harmer, when he heard of my invitation, mademe a very handsome present to buy myself dresses fitted for theoccasion. I had, therefore, a fortnight of excitement and preparation,as my morning and walking dresses were made at Canterbury; but myball-dresses were ordered of a London dressmaker, as mamma thought thatCanterbury fashions would not do for me at Lady Desborough's.

  At last all was ready, and I started for town. Papa put me in charge ofa lady of his acquaintance, who was also going to London, and then saidgood-bye, with many comic injunctions as to my behaviour in goodsociety.

  Nothing particular happened on our journey to London, and when I got outat the station, a tall footman, whose face I remembered, came up andtouched his hat, and asked what luggage I had.

  Lady Desborough had sent her carriage to meet me, and I began to realizethe fact that I had all at once become a young woman.

  I felt a little flurried when we drew up at the house in Eaton Square,and the tall footman knocked at the door, in a way I thoughtunnecessarily loud and important.

  However, I soon felt at home when Ada came flying downstairs into thehall, and kissed me as warmly as she had done three months before whenwe parted at Miss Pilgrim's.

  "Come along, Agnes, dear; never mind your things; they will be allbrought up safe. Your room is next to mine, with a door between, so weshall be able to talk as much as we like. Mamma is not very well, and islying down, and you will not see her till dinner-time, so I have got youall to myself for three hours. There, that is your room, and this ismine."

  Very snug and comfortable they looked, with two large fires blazing inthe grates, which gave a cosy look to the rooms, and caused me to forgetthe unusual grandeur of the furniture; for I should, I think, haveotherwise felt not a little awe-struck, it was all so very differentfrom my quiet old-fashioned low-ceiled room, with its white hangings,down in Canterbury.

  However, I had no time to notice much then, for Ada, in her impulsiveway, was already occupied in taking off my wraps; this done, she againkissed me, and then made me seat myself in a chair in front of the fire,while she nestled down on a low stool beside me.

  "There, Agnes, now you will get warm again. Do you know you are lookingvery well after your journey, and are certainly even prettier than whenI saw you last. I begin to think I was very foolish to have you here atall: you will quite eclipse poor little me."

  I laughed at the nonsense she was talking, for Ada was one of theloveliest girls I ever saw, and I--well, I believe I was pretty, butcertainly nothing to compare to Ada. We chatted merrily over old times,and then Ada gave me the list of our engagements, which quite frightenedme, at the number of titled people I was going to visit. At last it wastime to get ready for dinner; so I went into my own room, where I foundAda's maid had already unpacked my boxes, and put all my things awayready for use into the drawers and wardrobes. I was therefore able totake my time dressing, talking to Ada the while through the open door.

  When we went down into the drawing-room ready for dinner, we found Percysitting reading by the light of the bright fire. He must have heard therustle of our dresses as we entered, but he continued reading to thelast moment; then closing his book, reluctantly as it were, rose tospeak to us. As he did so he gave quite a start; he had evidentlyexpected to meet the schoolgirl he had seen nearly two years before,looking demure and half frightened at his mamma's presence, and Icertainly felt flattered at the evident surprise and admiration his faceexpressed when his eyes fell upon me. It was my first effect, and Icould not help colouring up and feeling gratified.

  "I need not say how do you do, Miss Ashleigh," he said, coming forwardto shake hands with me. "Your looks speak for themselves. I shouldhardly have known you; how you have grown, and how very pretty you havebecome."

  I coloured high in laughing confusion, and Ada said, coming to myrelief, "Really, Percy, how sadly _gauche_ and unpolished you are inyour way of paying compliments: the idea of telling a young lady justcome out, that she has grown very pretty; just the sort of thing youmight have said to a little child, or a milkmaid. You might haveconveyed the idea, which in itself is true and unexceptionable, in somedelicate way in which it would have been acceptable. Grown pretty,indeed! You never had much manners, Percy, but the Lancers certainlyhave not improved you."

  "I really beg your pardon, Miss Ashleigh," he said, colouring almost asmuch as I had done, "but I felt so much surprised for a moment at thechange in you, that I was obliged to express myself in the moststraightforward way: had what I said been less true, I should have putit into some different form."

  "That is better, Percy," Ada said, approvingly.

  "Agnes, make one of your best Grendon House curtsies."

  I swept to the ground in a deep reverence, and then having quiterecovered my confusion by seeing Percy embarrassed by Ada's attack, Iwas able to take my own part in the conversation; and--accustomed as Iwas to wordy skirmishes with papa and Harry--with Ada on my side, wesoon completely silenced Percy, who, indeed, in a war of words, was nomatch for either of us alone.

  Percy Desborough was, in my opinion, a handsome man; and yet, perhaps,as I am prejudiced in his favour, my opinion may not be worth much, andI do not think girls in general would have thought him so. He was nownearly twenty-three, about middle height, rather slight, with a lithe,sinewy figure: very upright. His brown hair was brushed back with a wavefrom his forehead, for in the year of grace, 1848, young men had nottaken to cutting their hair like convicts, or charity boys. He had athoughtful and yet a quick eye, a firm, resolute mouth, and a white andthin, but very nervous hand. He looked a soldier every inch, of the typeof which our Indian heroes are made; thoughtful, studious men, with warmhearts, and iron resolutions, with manners quiet and gentle, but withthe fiery courage of a Bayard. He was as far removed from the ordinarydrawing-room soldier as can well be; men who, doubtless, when necessitycomes, are, as every English gentleman must be, brave as far as personalcourage goes, but who care little for their military duties, contentingthemselves with going through the daily routine, reserving all theirbest energies for the evening. Men with a rather supercilious smile, andlanguid air, with a great flow of small talk and compliments: men muchgiven to stroking their moustache and whiskers, and with an amazing ideaof their own powers of fascination; not, indeed, that I blame them forthat, for we girls do make such fools of them, that it is no wonder theyshould consider that as far as we are concerned they are invincible.Percy was, on the other hand, almost shy with women, and was verystudious, especially in all matters relating to his profession. Heexpected, Ada told me, to embark for India with his regiment in about ayear's time, and he was working very hard at Hindostanee and the otherEastern languages, in order to qualify himself for a staff appointment.

  Lady Desborough presently came down. She was extremely gracious andcordial, and, although it was not more than six months since she hadseen me, she assured me that I had very much improved, especially infigure and carriage,--the points, she observed, in which young girlsgenerally fail; and she said she should be quite proud of two suchbelles as Ada and myself to introduce into society.

  We dined earlier than usual, and did not sit so long at the table. Thiswas a great relief to me, as I hardly felt enough at home to have quiterecovered from my old sense of oppression at the extre
me stateliness ofthe meal. The reason for this change was, that we were going to theopera in the evening. We had dressed for it before dinner, so that therewas no time lost, and we entered Lady Desborough's box a little beforethe overture began. Lady Desborough insisted on us girls taking thefront seats. She sat between us, but rather farther back, while Percystood sometimes behind Ada, sometimes behind me.

  While the overture was going on, Ada told me to look down upon the seaof heads below. It was wonderful, but yet a little confusing, there wereso many men looking up with opera-glasses, and a great many of themseemed gazing right into our box.

  "How very rude they are, Ada!"

  Ada laughed. She had often been there before, and was accustomed to it.

  "My dear, it is the greatest possible compliment to us. All theselorgnettes turned to our box proclaim us indisputable belles. Men wouldnot take the trouble to look at us if we were not pretty. There, child,don't colour up so; the only way is to look perfectly indifferent, as ifyou were quite unconscious of it."

  It was easy advice to give, and I followed it to the best of my power;but I felt very hot and uncomfortable till the curtain drew up, and thenI was too entirely absorbed in the music to have noticed it, even if thewhole house had been looking at me.

  It was to me an evening of enchantment. The opera was "Lucrezia Borgia,"with Alboni as Orsini, and I had never before conceived it possible thatthe human voice was capable of producing such exquisite full liquidnotes as those which poured from her, seemingly without the slightesteffort. It was marvellous, and I was literally enchanted; and evenbetween the acts I did not recover sufficiently from the effect itproduced on me to listen to Ada, who wanted to talk, and tell me whoevery one was in the different boxes.

  When we reached home, Lady Desborough said it was quite a treat goingwith any one who enjoyed herself as thoroughly as I did. The first timeAda went she did not seem to care in the least about the music, and onlyoccupied herself in asking who all the people were.

  The next day we went for a drive in the park, and I was quite astonishedand delighted at the number and beauty of the carriages and horses; forin our walks at school, we had only kept in the secluded parts of thepark and gardens, and had never been allowed to go near the fashionablequarters. It was quite a new pleasure to me. But whatever I felt, I knewit was right and proper to sit quite still, and to look passive andquiet as Ada did, especially as numbers of ladies in carriages bowed toLady Desborough, and men on horseback lifted their hats, or sometimesrode up to the carriage and spoke. Ada knew most of them by name, butvery few to speak to, as her mamma had not been in the habit of takingher out to drive with her, or of introducing her to any one, as she wasnot yet out. But now as we were to appear the next evening in public,Lady Desborough introduced several of the gentlemen to us, and some ofthem rode for a little way by the side of the carriage, talking to herladyship, and sometimes exchanging a few words with Ada and myself. Thatevening we were a quiet little party, and after Ada and I had playedsome of our old school duets together, we went to bed quite early, inorder to be fresh for the next day's fatigues.

  What an exciting day that was! Early in the morning Gunter's men cameand took possession of the dining-room, turning it completely upsidedown. A large cartload of benches and tressels came at the same time,and they took the dining-table away, and erected a large horse-shoetable in its place. In the mean time the upholsterer's men were hard atwork in the drawing-room. First they removed all the furniture from it;then they took out the window-sashes, and erected a most lovely littletent over the whole balcony, lined with white and blue muslin, andfurnished with couches, forming a most charming place to go out intobetween the dances. Having done this, they stretched a drugget over bothdrawing-rooms, and placed forms round the room. As soon as they weregone, Ada and I came into it, and performed a waltz on the drugget,which was pronounced stretched to perfection. About this time Percyarrived from Covent Garden, where he had been to see that the flowerswhich had been previously ordered were coming. Scarcely had he arrivedwhen two carts drove up to the door full of them. We thereupon formedourselves into a council of taste, and the flowers were distributedunder our supervision in the hall, in the room behind thedining-room--which was to be for tea and ices--on the landings of thestaircase, and in the grates of the drawing-rooms. The conservatory hadbeen filled the day before, and a perfumed fountain from Rimmel's,placed there to play during the evening. When all was done, wepronounced the effect to be charming. Lady Desborough, at Ada's request,came down from her room, where she had been all the morning, to inspectthe arrangements, which she pronounced exceedingly good. Indeed itlooked extremely well, for the drawing-rooms, which were very large andhandsome, had been repapered specially for the occasion, Lady Desboroughbeing determined that nothing should be wanting, and their effect, withthe pretty tent outside, and the large boudoir opening from the fartherend, was really lovely. When she had inspected everything, she said thatshe particularly wished us to lie down for a time in the afternoon, andto get a short sleep if possible, if not to take a book, but at allevents to keep quiet, in order that we might be fresh in the evening.This advice we of course had to follow, but it was very unpalatable tous both, as we were girls enough to enjoy all the bustle immensely;still there was no help for it; and so we went up to our rooms, wherelunch, by Lady Desborough's orders, was brought up to us. After that welay down, but I don't think either of us closed our eyes. I am sure Iwas far too excited at the thought of the evening before me. PresentlyAda came into my room, and said that lying down was out of the question,so we wheeled two easy chairs before the fire, and sat there and chattedquietly.

  By six o'clock the supper was all laid, under the superintendence ofGunter's managing man himself, and the effect, when we went in to see iton our way down to dinner in the back dining-room, was certainly superb.Even Lady Desborough condescended to express her conviction to Gunter'smanaging man, that nothing could be better.

  After this, the house subsided into quiet, and soon after seven we wentup to dress. We had thus nearly three hours before us, as it was quitecertain no one would come before ten; and I confess I did not see how wecould possibly occupy all that, and was half inclined to side with Percyin his remarks as to the absurdity of our being so long at our toilet.However, Ada paid no attention to what he said, and, of course, I wentup-stairs with her. It was very pleasant up there, and we chatted a longtime, sitting before Ada's fire, before we made any signs of beginningto dress.

  Presently a knock at the door interrupted us, and we were told that thehairdresser was below.

  "I will go down first, Agnes; you get on with your dressing. I shall notbe twenty minutes at most."

  While I was dressing a small parcel was brought up, which had been leftat the door for me. It contained a note and a small jewel-box. The notewas from Messrs. Hunt and Roskell, saying, "That they had receivedorders from Mr. Harmer, of Canterbury, to send me a cross, the choice ofwhich he had left with them, and a small chain to suspend it round myneck. That they trusted the jewel would give me satisfaction; but that,if I wished, they would exchange it for any other in their shop, if Iwould favour them with a call." The contents of the case were a smallcross, composed entirely of very large diamonds, of the value of which Ihad no idea, but which looked very lovely, and a small chain to hang itround my neck. I said nothing to Ada, although the door was open, as Iwished to surprise her.

  Ada's maid seemed a long time to me putting the finishing touches to mydress; for I was not accustomed to all these little minutiae; but at lastit was done, and I turned round to go into Ada's room--she having beendressed by Lady Desborough's own maid--when she came into the room tome, and as she did so we uttered an exclamation of mutual admiration.Ada certainly looked lovely; she was dressed in white silk, with whitetulle over it, which was looped up with scarlet flowers, and she had awreath of the same, with green leaves in her dark hair; round her neckwas a beautiful necklace of pearls of great value, which was, I believe,a family heir
loom.

  My dress, like hers, was of white silk, with a skirt of lovely Brusselslace, a present from Mr. Harmer, over it. This was slightly looped upwith blue forget-me-nots, and I had a wreath of the same flowers in myhair.

  "Oh Agnes," Ada exclaimed, after our first burst of mutualcongratulations was over, "Oh, Agnes, what a lovely diamond cross; wheredid you get it from? you never showed it me before."

  I explained to her the manner in which I had just received it.

  "Well, Agnes, that Mr. Harmer of yours is a trump, as Percy would say.What a beautiful thing. Have you any idea of the value of it?"

  I knew nothing of the value of diamonds, and suggested twenty pounds.

  "Twenty pounds, you silly child," Ada said; "you don't deserve to havepresents made you. If I know anything of diamonds, it is worth twohundred."

  "You don't mean that, Ada," I exclaimed, quite frightened at the idea ofcarrying such a valuable thing round my neck; "you are only laughing atme."

  "I can assure you I am in earnest, Agnes; they are quite worth that;they are splendid diamonds, and the cross looks quite a blaze of lighton your neck."

  We were down stairs by a quarter to ten. Percy was already there, andpaid us both many nonsensical compliments. Lady Desborough soon camedown, and also expressed herself highly pleased with our appearance. Shefully endorsed what Ada had said as to the value of the cross, and saidthat it was worth more than Ada had put it at, perhaps nearly twice asmuch.

  "Now," she said, when Percy had gone out of the room to fetch somethinghe had forgotten, "I wish to give you a last piece of advice. I give itto you, Miss Ashleigh, as much as I do to Ada, for as you come out undermy charge, I consider myself as responsible for you equally. To you,Ada, I say be very careful you do not let your high spirits run awaywith you; above all, do not become noisy: I know well what your tendencyis. This does not apply to you, Miss Ashleigh, for although you havegood spirits, I know you are not likely to let them run away with you asAda is. Do not either of you, I beg, dance more than once, or at mosttwice with any gentleman. This applies equally to you, Miss Ashleigh, asthe heiress to a considerable fortune. It is incumbent on you both to bevery careful with whom you dance,--I mean, dance frequently: there isnothing more damaging to a girl than that her name should be mentionedas seen flirting with any but a most eligible party; and as at presentyou do not know who is who, you cannot be too careful."

  Here Percy's return interrupted any further advice which Lady Desboroughmight have been disposed to have tendered us; and in a few minutes thevisitors began to arrive, and my first ball began.

  I may here mention, with reference to Lady Desborough's remark about mybeing an heiress, that Clara Fairthorne had brought the news to school,when Mr. Harmer's intentions with respect to us were publicly announced,and from that time we were generally known there by the nickname of the"heiresses."