the week that followed passed all too quickly. there was no hitch whatever in the girls' plans. mrs. lorrimer wrote to molly to express her complete satisfaction with the arrangement proposed by hester. the workwomen who had now taken up their abode at the grange were both efficient and clever. with annie's help the different dresses began to assume form and completion with marvellous rapidity. annie was the life and soul of the dressmaking. she sketched pictures of the proposed toilettes; she coloured these sketches; then she tried on and cut out, and basted, and tacked. she helped to hang draperies and to arrange the wings of the fairies. the women became interested themselves in such an artistic assistant, and did everything in their power to help her. at the towers the ball-room began to show its noble proportions to the best advantage. hester and annie and nan and molly went backwards and forwards at all hours of the day. by monday evening, the ball-room was in complete order. every possible direction was given with regard to the different refreshments, and the last stitch in the pretty fancy dresses had been done. the news of nan's fancy ball had spread far and wide. almost every invitation met with an acceptance, and the thornton and lorrimer households were borne forward just at present on a full tide of victorious excitement. even molly felt herself obliged to enter [pg 133]into the full spirit of the fun. not a murmur of anxiety from her father and mother in london reached her. mrs. lorrimer, in writing to molly, had assumed as cheerful a tone as possible; she had alluded to no possible care, had hinted at no canker root of possible trouble. she had said, it is true, that it was rather unlikely that she and the squire would return in time for the ball; but if this could not be managed, she hoped the children would enjoy themselves to the full in their absence; and finally, she said how heartily she rejoiced in the thought of their having such a delightful time. hester also forgot the small worrying thought which came to her now and again about her father, in this week of rush and pleasure. hester was by nature a very quiet-mannered girl, but she became nearly as lively now as annie; she laughed, and joked, and danced, and skipped until mrs. martin, who watched her from the nursery window, began to shake her head gravely, and to say that such mirth was not "fey" as she expressed it, and that it surely forbode a season of gloom by-and-by.
annie's high spirits being natural to her, no one specially noticed them, and according to her custom, she put dull care aside and was as lively as she looked.
it is true that she had been obliged to ignore mrs. willis's letter; it is true that the ring was still being jealously guarded by that dreadful mrs. myrtle, for annie had not the courage to ask mrs. martin for it. the whole situation was now quite plain; mrs. martin had never gone near the pawnbroker's, but had lent annie the money herself. why she had parted with the ring under these circumstances was a [pg 134]problem which poor annie could not attempt to fathom. all she could do now was to abide the issue of events as patiently as possible. all her life long she had found that, somehow or other, matters did right themselves for her, and she trusted to her usual good luck on this occasion.
the preparations were almost all completed for the fancy ball by monday night. nan's birthday would be on wednesday. no second letter had arrived from sir john thornton, and hester wondered whether he would be present on the birthday or not. the day was to be one long scene of triumph for the young birthday queen. annie and hester both stole out of bed at an early hour that morning, and going out into the garden, they picked baskets full of flowers with the dew on them, with which they made wreaths to decorate the breakfast table, and to cover the piles of presents which lay not only on nan's plate, but all round it.
as soon as nan appeared in the breakfast-room, annie tripped up to her, bent on one knee as if to a liege lady, told her that she was her lawful sovereign for that entire day, and then begged leave to crown the birthday queen with flowers. nan's cheeks were flushed already, and her eyes bright with excitement. molly came in by-and-by, and nora, who was now much better, was wheeled into the room on her sofa. she wore the white cambric dress which annie had made for her. her dark hair was swept back from her pretty, low forehead, her cheeks had roses in them, and her eyes sparkled.
"molly, molly," she exclaimed, "look at me, look at me. now you know the secret of the locked door. annie made me this frock; she had some bits of [pg 135]cambric over from dresses of her own, and she made this and a blue one, and a pink one also; i have the other two in my drawer; i know they are all sweetly becoming, aren't they? it's nearly as good as having a trousseau. oh, do kiss me and congratulate me, molly; you know how i have always longed for pretty dresses. was not it perfectly darling of annie to make them for me?"
before molly could reply a loud exclamation from hester turned all eyes in her direction.
"what do you think?" she exclaimed. "the crowning bliss of our day is come. nan, you will never guess. annie, dear, how charmed you will be. here is a letter from mrs. willis; she expects to reach nortonbury by the mid-day train, and asks me to send to meet her. oh, dear, this is lovely. i have not seen my dear mrs. willis for over a year. what a rest and comfort it will be to talk to her again. molly, you will delight in her; she is just the woman to captivate you completely. nora, you will lose your heart to her, too. i don't know what wonderful thing there is about her; she is so strong, so noble, so gentle, that she wins all hearts; it is impossible for anybody to be naughty when mrs. willis is in the house. nan, the arrival of mrs. willis on your birthday is the happiest possible omen for the whole year. oh, how truly rejoiced i am!"
"yes, it's awfully jolly of her to come," said nan. "of course i'm very fond of her, but i hope she won't remind me of my holiday task, for, frankly, i have not looked at it yet, and i don't mean to do so until the last week of the holidays. now, do let's all begin breakfast; even though i am queen, i happen to [pg 136]have an appetite. annie, what are you in a brown study about? why, you look quite pale!"
"i expect annie is so glad about mrs. willis that she can scarcely speak," said hester, glancing at her friend in an affectionate manner. "yes, we had better get breakfast through. i shall give mrs. willis the maple room, with that lovely west view. there is a little sitting-room which goes with it, where she can be quiet whenever she wants to be quiet. how glad nursey will be when she hears that dear mrs. willis is coming."
hester began to perform the duties of tea-maker in a rather abstracted manner. as she kept on filling up cups of tea, she also glanced from time to time at the letter which gave her such delight.
"it is such a surprise," she said; "perhaps that is half the pleasure."
"please don't put any more sugar into my tea," exclaimed annie in an almost cross voice; "you know i never touch sugar, and that is the fourth lump."
"oh, i am sorry," exclaimed hester; "i'll take that cup and you shall have mine."
"you put five lumps into your own cup, i watched you; oh, dear, it doesn't matter, of course."
"no, it doesn't matter," said hester, still reading her letter. "molly, will you pass the tea on, please. oh, yes, i'll have some honey; you can put a piece on my plate if you like."
"the only plate you have before you at present contains eggs and bacon," exclaimed molly. "i think i won't help the honey for a few minutes."
"this is a delightful surprise," murmured hester; "but, dear me, it is rather strange, mrs. willis says [pg 137]she wrote to you last week, annie, and said that she would try to give us a couple of days at the grange on her way back to lavender house. how was it you never mentioned it?"
there was just a pause long enough to be noticed before annie replied.
"i did not get the letter," she said then, in a steady voice.
she hated herself the moment she had uttered the words. she felt as if she had fallen from a height, and was lying maimed and bruised, bleeding and ugly in some dismal abyss; but all the time her eyes looked bright and her face was cheerful.
hester exclaimed, "how strange! what a pity! how could the letter have gone astray?" but other thoughts soon chased this one from her mind.
breakfast being over the young housekeeper had much to attend to.
nora held out her hand to annie, who stooped down and kissed her affectionately.
"are you really glad that she is coming?" asked nora.
"of course i am, nonie; she is—" a stab went through annie's heart—"she is my best friend."
"is she really as good as hester says she is?" continued nora.
"yes, yes, better; no one quite knows how good she is."
"i shall be afraid of her," said nora shuddering. "i hate such perfectly good people; they make me feel small and mean."
annie took up a basket of flowers, and began deftly to form them into wreaths for the further decoration of the ball-room.
[pg 138]
"it's dreadful to feel mean," she said almost in a whisper.
"you can't surely know what it means," replied nora.
"oh, can't i though; don't let's talk of it any more. i like you in white, nora. white, toned with lace and coloured ribbons, makes a charming dress for you. you have such a pretty face. it is so full of esprit—so piquant. some day you will be a beautiful woman."
"as beautiful as you are?" asked nora. "i don't desire to be more beautiful than you."
"in some ways you will be more beautiful," replied annie. "i don't pretend that i am not pretty, i know i am; but in some ways you will be superior to me. you will have a greater air of distinction. noblesse oblige will be abundantly manifested in you. oh, yes," continued annie, "it is all very fine for us parvenus to despise race. we don't really despise it; we adore it, we envy it; we can never, never, never get what race confers."
"how excitedly you talk," said nora; "you seem angry about something."
"i am angry with myself," said annie; "my low ways and my meanness. noblesse oblige has nothing to do with me. now, look here, nora, forget all this rubbishy talk; be thankful that you are a beautiful girl of good family, who could not do a shabby action. i must leave you now, for mrs. willis is coming, and i should like to go into nortonbury to meet her."
annie ran off to find hester.
"hester," she exclaimed, "may i go in the carriage to nortonbury to meet mrs. willis?"
"that is an excellent idea," said hester; "take [pg 139]molly with you, the drive will do her good. i am so busy this morning that i can scarcely be spared from home. yes, that is an excellent idea. i was wondering who would go to meet her."
molly was very pleased to accompany annie to nortonbury, and annie was glad of her company. molly would be a sort of shield to her; not that it really mattered, for she had already quite made up her mind how to act.
the girls enjoyed their pleasant drive together. mrs. willis's train was punctual, and she was soon driving back to the grange, molly seated by her side and annie on the seat facing her.
mrs. willis had the knack of making all girls perfectly at home with her. molly felt sure that a certain feeling of restraint would come over her when she sat by the side of this excellent and adorable woman; but the moment she looked into mrs. willis's kind eyes, and mrs. willis returned her glance, and said in that full, rich, motherly voice of hers, "oh, i have heard of you; you are molly lorrimer, you live at the towers, and you have a great many brothers and sisters, and your schoolroom is reached by a spiral stair, and is somewhere up in the clouds. i have heard all about you many times from nan." then molly laughed, and felt at home. she felt more than at home, for her heart gave a strange flutter, and then a curious sense of peace pervaded it. it was something like being near her mother, and yet it was something different. the magnetic influence of a good and great spirit was already making itself felt.
annie sat opposite to the two with dancing eyes.
"how well you look my love," said mrs. willis. [pg 140]"i am delighted to see that the change has done you so much good."
annie drooped her long lashes for a moment.
"i am as well as well can be," she said, "and as jolly as jolly can be, and you have just come in the nick of time to make everything perfect. molly, do tell mrs. willis about our fancy ball to-night."
"i will listen to you in a moment, molly," said mrs. willis; "but first of all i want to ask annie a question. i hope you did not send the ring to paris, annie, for, if you did, i never received it."
"what ring?" asked annie, looking up in pretended amazement. "do you mean my mother's ring, mrs. willis, the—the one you lent me?"
"yes, dear. i wrote to you last week about it. i was surprised at never hearing from you, for my letter was quite urgent. i wanted the ring for a special object, and was disappointed at its never coming."
"that must have been the letter you never got, annie," exclaimed molly.
"you never got my letter?" exclaimed mrs. willis. "how very, very strange! but i posted it myself, and i know i put the right address on it. i am relieved, of course, that you did not send the ring when it was too late; but it is odd about the letter."
"no, i didn't send the ring," said annie in a light voice. "how could i?"
"certainly not, dear, if you did not know that i wanted it."
"hester was surprised this morning," continued molly, taking up the thread of the narrative, and unconsciously giving annie immense assistance. [pg 141]"you said, in your letter to her, that you had told annie a week ago that you were coming. then annie said that she had never got your letter."
"it is very queer," said mrs. willis. "i must write to the post office in paris and make inquiries. well, i am glad the ring is safe."
"of course, it is as safe as possible," said annie. "it is too bad about the letter," she continued. "did you want the ring very badly?"
"yes, very badly; but it is not too late yet to manage matters. i want to have the ring copied as a wedding present for margaret cecil, but i have already spoken to a jeweller about it, and if i send him the ring to-day or to-morrow he will have it in time. don't forget to give it to me, annie, dear, when we get home."
"oh, no," said annie, "i won't forget."
a few moments later they arrived at the grange, where mrs. willis was received with a kind of trembling joy by hester, who took her into the house and showered every imaginable attention which her love could suggest upon her.
"time, time," muttered annie to herself as she rushed away. "something must happen between now and to-morrow. i'll keep out of her way to-day, and in the fuss and excitement she'll forget about the ring. i have told one big lie about it, and i have insinuated a dozen more, and i vow and declare one thing—that i will not be discovered now. i'll go on to the bitter end now, come what will. heigh-ho, is that you, nan? what are you doing? don't you know that mrs. willis has come? what is that you have in your hand?"
"it's a letter of yours," said nan; "i found it in [pg 142]the garden under a rose bush; it's in mrs. willis's handwriting; didn't you say that you did not hear from her last week?"
"no more i did; give me that letter; it's quite an old one." annie stretched out her hand, snatched the letter from nan, and pushed it into her pocket.
"you didn't read it?" she asked.
"no, i'm not so mean; what is the matter with you?"
"i hate to have my letters read."
"they're not read by girls like me; you needn't be afraid."
nan rushed off in a huff, and annie walked slowly down the corridor. her heart felt like lead. she fully believed that nan had not read the letter, but nan's eyes might have happened to glance at the postmark on it. that postmark contained a date only one week old. nan was the last child to whom annie felt she could confide her guilty secret.
"oh, dear, dear," she murmured under her breath, "what a true saying it is, that 'the way of transgressors is hard.' i am a mean, low sort, not a doubt of that. why, if the lorrimers and thorntons really knew me as i am, they wouldn't speak to me. well, there's nothing for it now but to carry matters with a high hand, and to let nothing out. if nan does happen to have noticed the date on the letter, i'll tell her she was mistaken. how could i have been so mad as to carry this letter about in my pocket? well, to make all things sure, i'll destroy it now."
"annie, annie, we're just going to lunch," called out hester; "what are you running into the garden for?"
"i'll be back in a minute," shouted annie.
[pg 143]
she ran quickly out of the house and down the broad grass walk which led to the arbour at the farther end. by the side of the arbour lay a basket of tools. annie snatched up a small trowel, and going to the back of the arbour, dug a hole for her letter. she tore it then into fragments and buried it, looked round her eagerly, saw that there was not a soul in sight, and then, with a certain sense of relief, hurried back to the house.
