“There is no occasion to say more about the woman. I am quite satisfied with you, Barbara!” said lady Ann, looking up with an icy smile.

“But I am not satisfied, lady Ann,” rejoined Barbara. “If such a thing were to happen again, I should do just the same thing. Understanding how you feel, perhaps I should not remain your guest.”

But for lady Ann’s superiority in age, Barbara would have spoken her mind with yet greater freedom. Her rank made no halo about her in Barbara’s eyes. After her speaking so bluntly, lady Ann took no more trouble to appease her. The foolish girl would be ashamed of herself soon and would once again accept her favour. She was not afraid of losing Barbara, for she believed her parents must be strongly in favour of an alliance with her family. She knew nothing of the personal opposition between Mr. and Mrs. Wylder. She never opposed sir Wilton unless it was worth her while to do so, and sir Wilton never opposed her at all—openly. It gave lady Ann no more pleasure to go against her husband than to comply with his wishes, and she had no notion whatever of the pleasure it gave sir Wilton to see any desire of hers frustrated.

Barbara went to the stable, saddled Miss Brown, and was away from Mortgrange before Richard, as early as he had begun, was halfway through his morning work.

She went to see Alice almost every day from that afternoon. No one could resist Barbara, and Alice’s reserve, as imbedded as it was in pain, soon began to yield.

They became fast friends.

18. Alice and Barbara

— Eighteen —

Alice and Barbara

It was weeks before Alice was able to leave her bed. She had been utterly exhausted.

On a lovely summer morning she woke to a sense of returning health. She lay in a neat little curtained bed, in a room with a sloping roof on both sides, covered, not with tiles or slates, but with warm thatch, thick and sound. Ivy was creeping through the chinks of the poor-fitting window frame, but through the little dormer window the sun shone freely. It was a very humble room, and Alice had been used to better furniture. But it was clean, and there was a wholesomeness and purity everywhere about her which was very welcome.