Besides this, Wilfred Lane felt a curious choking kind of sensation in his throat, which he thought would get better if he remained in the open air alone. CHAPTER II. "Is human love the growth of human will?" THE family on board the tidal boat in which Wilfred Lane's interest was centred consisted of his aunt and three cousins; and the journey to Rome was undertaken on account of his attachment to the youngest daughter-an attachment which was warmly returned by the young lady herself, but was unacceptable to the higher pow ers. For many years Wilfred Lane had been in the habit of frequenting Lady Harewood's house so constantly that he had almost grown to look upon it as his home. He was accustomed to do for her and his cousins all those little offices which ladies without near male relations are so glad to receive from any man whom they regard in the light of a "tame cat," or a cousin who will never step beyond certain limits, or claim any other reward for his devotion than a kindly recognition of his services. His aunt had hitherto received Wilfred's attentions as her rightful due. Was he not the only son of her husband's young and foolish sister who, in spite of all her prudent counsels, persisted in refusing a wealthy unloved suitor in order to marry a poor country clergyman, who had not even the grace to live more than six months after Wilfred's birth, but left his widow as sole legacy a delicate little son, who must in future share with her the income which had barely sufficed for her own dress previous to this absurd love-match ? And had not Lady Harewood done her utmost to supply a mother's place, ever since that same weak silly creature cried herself into an early grave? Did not Wilfred Lane owe his appointment in the War Office to interest exerted by her lamented husband? In fact, Lady Harewood considered that she was only adding one more to the many favors already bestowed in allowing her nephew the free run of her house, permitting him to escort herself and her daughters to all the fêtes and balls of the season, to call up her carriage at the opera, and to undertake those many hundred little duties which force even the stoutest champions of woman's rights to acknowledge the supremacy of man. Wilfred Lane on his part was nothing loth to accept the situation, although anything more opposed to his own character than that of his aunt's can scarcely be conceived. Lady Harewood was weak and frivolous, and the worldly maxims which she occasionally uttered for the benefit of his cousins, with the small amount of earnestness of which her nature was capable, were sometimes almost more than he could endure in silence. Placed by her marriage in a position above the rest of her family, which belonged to the trading class in the West of England, Lady Harewood appeared to live in constant dread of betraying it, and in order to disguise it she assumed what she believed to be the correct airs of a lady of fashion, and a sorry sort of figure she often made in consequence. The three cousins were the silver lining to Wilfred's cloud, though there were moments when Charlotte showed tendencies to devote herself to the beau monde, like her mother; but they all inherited something of their father's marvellous intellect and genial disposition, and no house could fail to be agreeable which contained the bright and fascinating presence of these girls. Men of all sorts clustered round them, and they made themselves agreeable to their own sex as well; still there were ladies who had hard words for the Miss Harewoods, and condemned them all three as "sad flirts." For, long before Tiny was eighteen, a well-known officer in the Life Guards had made her conspicuous by his public attentions, and gentle Belgravian voices were not slow to whisper that by the time Tiny was as old as her sisters she would have surpassed them both in the art of coquetry. These insinuations, of course, never reached Wilfred's ear. He was regarded by the world. more as a brother than a cousin, and so indeed he remained, until he learnt to distinguish between the kindly pleasure with which he undertook to ride or walk with Charlotte and Madeline, and the different feelings he experienced when he found Tiny's arm within his own. Then he felt no longer a brother or mere cousin, for his pulse quickened and his heart throbbed with a passion unknown to such relationships. These were dangerous times for Wilfred, but he did not shun them, or think with any distinctness of that to which they must ultimately lead. As for Tiny, she was so full of life and spirits that she seemed scarcely to notice any one save in a passing way; everything and everybody appeared to give her pleasure for the moment, no one had power to arrest her for longer. The admiration of Captain Clutterbuck amused her and gratified her vanity, but it certainly never touched her heart. And so her nineteenth year passed away, and during the following winter the Harewoods went for a month to some old friends who lived near Windsor. It was Tiny's first visit to The Cedars, but she soon became a great favorite with both host and hostess, and when the time came for her mother's departure, she had decided (for Tiny generally decided for herself) on accepting Mrs. Wroughton's invitation to spend the rest of the winter at WindHer motives were never much scrutinized by her mother, who was in this instance ready to sor. |