“well, jasper,” said evelyn in a very eager voice to her maid that first night, “and how do you like it all?”
“how do you like it, evelyn?” was the response.
“that is so like you, jasper!” replied the spoilt little girl. “when all is said and done, you are not a scrap original. you make me like you—i cannot help myself—but in some ways you are too cautious to please me. you don’t want to say what you think of the place until you know my opinion. well, i don’t care; i’ll tell you out plump what i think of everything. the place is horrid, and so are the people. i wish—oh! i wish i was back again on the ranch with mother.”
jasper looked down rather scornfully at the small girl, who, in a rich and elaborately embroidered dressing-gown, was kneeling by the fire. evelyn’s handsome eyes, the only really good feature she possessed, were fixed full upon her maid’s face.
“the castle is too stiff for me,” she said, “and too—too airified and high and mighty. mother was quite right when she spoke of castle wynford. i don’t care for anybody in the place except uncle 37 ned. i don’t know how i shall live here. oh jasper, don’t you remember the evenings at home? cannot you recall that night when whitefoot was ill, and you and mothery and i had to sit up all through the long hours nursing her, and how we thought the dear old moo-cow would die! don’t you remember the mulled cider and the gingerbread and the doughnuts and the apple-rings? how we toasted the apple-rings by the fire, and how they spluttered, and how good the hot cider was? and don’t you remember how mothery sang, and how you and i caught each other’s hands and danced, and dear old whitefoot looked up at us with her big, sorrowful eyes? it is true that she died in the morning, but we had a jolly night. we’ll never have such times any more. oh, i do wish my own mothery had not died and gone to heaven! oh, i do wish it—i do!”
evelyn crossed her arms tightly on her breast and began to sway herself backwards and forwards. tears streamed from her eyes; she did not attempt to wipe them away.
“now then, it is my turn to speak,” said jasper. “i tell you what it is, eve; you are about the biggest goose that was ever born in this world. who would compare that stupid, rough old ranch with this lovely, magnificent house? and it is your own, eve—or rather it will be your own. i took a good stare at the squire, and i do not believe he will live to be very old; and whenever he dies you are to take possession—you and i together, eve love—and 38 out will go her ladyship, and out will go proud miss audrey. that will be a fine day, darling—a day worth living for.”
“yes,” said evelyn slowly; “and then we’ll alter things. we’ll make the castle something like the ranch. we’ll get over some of our friends, and they shall live in the house. mr. and mrs. petrie, who keep the egg-farm not a mile from the ranch, and mr. thomas longchamp and pete and dick and tom and michael. i told them all when i was going away that when i was mistress of the castle they should come, and we’ll go on much as we went on at the ranch. if mothery up in heaven can see me she will be glad. but, jasper, why do you speak in that scornful way of my cousin audrey? i think she is very beautiful. i think she is quite the most beautiful girl i have ever looked at. as to her being stately, she cannot help being stately. i wish i could walk like her, and talk like her, and speak like her; i do, jasper—i do really.”
“let me see,” said jasper in a contemplative tone. “you are learning to love her, ain’t you?”
“i don’t love easily. i love my own darling mothery, who is not dead at all, for she is in heaven with father; and i love you, jasper, and my uncle edward.”
“my word! and why him?”
“i cannot help it; i love him already, and i’ll love him more and more the longer i see him and the more i know him. my father must have been like that—a gentleman—a perfect gentleman. oh! 39 i was happy at the ranch, and mothery was like no one else on the wide earth, but it gave me a sort of quiver down my spine when uncle edward took my hand, and when he kissed me. he is like what father was. had father lived i’d have spent all my days here, and i’d have been perhaps quite as graceful as audrey, and nearly as beautiful.”
“you will never be like her, so you need not think it. you are squat like your mother, and you ain’t got a decent feature in your face except your eyes, and even they are only big, not dark; and your hair is skimpy and your face white. you are a sort of mix’um-gather’um—a sort of betwixt-and-between—neither very fair nor very dark, neither very short nor very tall. you are thick-set, just the very image of your mother, and you will always be thick-set and always mix’um-gather’um as long as you live. there! i have spoken. i ain’t going to be afraid of you. you had better get into bed now, for it is late. you want your beauty-sleep, and you won’t get it unless you are quick. now march! put on your night-dress and step into bed.”
“i have got to say my prayers first,” said evelyn, “and——” she paused and looked full at her maid. “i have got to say something else. if you talk like that i won’t love you any more. you are not to do it. i won’t have it.”
“won’t she, then?” said jasper. her whole manner changed. “and have i hurt her—have i—the little dear? come to me, my darling. why, 40 you are all trembling! did you think i meant a word i said? don’t you know that you are the jewel of my eyes and the core of my heart and all the rest? did your mother leave you to me for nothing, and would i ever leave you, sweetest and best? and if it is squat you are, there is no one like you for determination and fire of spirit. eh, now, come to my arms and i’ll rock the bitterness out of you, for it is puzzled you are, and fretted you are, and you shall not be—no, you shall not be either one or the other ever again while old jasper lives.”
evelyn’s eyes, which had flashed an almost ugly fire, now softened. she looked at jasper as if she meant to resist her. then she wavered, and came almost totteringly across the room, and the next moment the strange woman had clasped the girl to her embrace and was rocking her backwards and forwards, evelyn’s head lying on her breast just as if she were a baby.
“now then, that’s better,” said jasper. “i’ll undress you as though we were back again on the ranch, and when you are snug and safe in your little white bed we’ll have a bit of fun.”
“fun!” said evelyn. “what?”
“don’t you know how you like a stolen supper? i have got chocolate here, and a little pot, and a jug of cream, and a saucepan, and i’ll make a rich cup for you and another for myself; and here’s a box of cakes, all sorts and very good. while you are sipping your chocolate i’ll take off miss audrey and lady frances for you. the door is locked; no one 41 can see us. we’ll be as snug as snug can be, and we’ll have our fun just as if we were back at the ranch.”
evelyn was now all laughter and high spirits. she had no idea of restraining herself. she called jasper her honey and her honey-pot, and kissed the good woman several times. she superintended the making of the chocolate with eager words and many directions. finally, a cup of the rich beverage was handed to her, and she sipped it, luxuriously curled up against her snowy pillows, and ate the sweet cakes, and watched jasper with happy eyes.
“so it is miss audrey you’d like to take after?” said jasper. “you think you are not a patch on her. to be sure not—wait and we’ll see.”
in an instant jasper had transformed her features to a comical resemblance of audrey’s. she spoke in mincing tones, with just sufficient likeness to audrey to cause evelyn to scream with mirth. she took light, quick steps across the room, and imitated audrey’s very words. all of a sudden she changed her manner. she now resembled miss sinclair, putting on the slightly precise language of the governess, adjusting her shoulders and arranging her hands as she had seen miss sinclair do for a brief moment that evening. her personation of miss sinclair was as good as her personation of audrey, and evelyn became so excited that she very nearly spilt her chocolate. but her crowning delight came when all of a sudden, without the slightest warning, jasper became lady frances herself. she now sailed rather 42 than walked across the apartment; her tones were stately and slow; her manner was the sort which might inspire awe; her very words were those of lady frances. but the delighted maid believed that she had a further triumph in store, for, with a quick change of mien, she now had the audacity to personate the squire himself; but in one instant, like a flash, evelyn was out of bed. she put down her chocolate-cup and rushed towards jasper.
“the others as much as you like,” she said, “but not uncle ned. you dare not. you sha’n’t. i’ll turn you away if you do. i’ll hate you if you do. the others over and over again—they are lovely, splendid, grand—it puts heart in me to see you—but not uncle ned.”
jasper looked in astonishment at the little girl.
“so you love him as much as that already?” she said. “well, as you please, of course.”
“don’t be cross, jasper,” said evelyn. “i can stand all the others; i can even like them. i told audrey to-night how splendidly you can mimic, and you shall mimic her to her face when i know her better. oh, it is killing—it is killing! but i draw the line at uncle ned.”
