Sir Alured in his letter expressed a hope that Everett might be informed instantly.He would have written himself had he known Everett's address.But he did know that his elder cousin was in town, and he besought his elder cousin to come at once,--quite at once,--to Wharton.Emily, he said, would of course accompany her father on such an occasion.Then there were long letters from Mary Wharton, and even from Lady Wharton, to Emily.The Whartons must have been very much moved when Lady Wharton could be induced to write a long letter.The Whartons were very much moved.They were in a state of enthusiasm at these news, amounting almost to fury.It seemed as though they thought that every tenant and labourer on the estate, and every tenant a labourer's wife, would be in an abnormal condition and unfit for the duties of life, till they should have seen Everett as heir to the property.Lady Wharton went so far as to tell Emily which bedroom was being prepared for Everett,--a bedroom very different in honour from any by the occupation of which he had yet been graced.And there were twenty points as to new wills and new deeds as to which the present baronet wanted the immediate advice of his cousin.There were a score of things which could now be done which were before impossible.Trees could be cut down, and buildings put up; and a little bit of land sold, and a little bit of land bought;--the doing of all which would give new life to Sir Alured.A life interest in an estate is a much pleasanter thing when the heir is a friend who can be walked about the property, than when he is an enemy who must be kept at arm's length.All these delights could now be Sir Alured's,--if the old heir would give him his counsel and the young one his assistance.
This change of affairs occasioned some flutter also in Manchester Square.It could not make much difference personally to old Mr Wharton.He was, in fact, as old as the baronet, and did not pay much regard to his own chance of succession.But the position was one which would suit him admirably, and he was now on good terms with his son.He had convinced himself that Lopez had done all that he could to separate them, and therefore found himself to be more bound to his son than ever.'We must go at once,' he said to his daughter, speaking as though he had forgotten her misery for the moment.
'I suppose you and Everett ought to be there.'
'Heaven knows where Everett is.I ought to be there, and Isuppose that on such an occasion as this you will condescend to go with me.'
'Condescend, papa;--what does that mean?'
'You know I cannot go alone.It is out of the question that Ishould leave you here.'
'Why, papa?'
'And at such a time the family ought to come together.Of course they will take it very much amiss if you refuse.What will Lady Wharton think if you refuse afer her writing such a letter as that? It is my duty to tell you that you ought to go.You cannot think that is right to throw over every friend that you have in the world.'
There was a great deal more said in which it almost seemed that the father's tenderness had worn out.His words were much rougher and more imperious than any that he had yet spoken since his daughter had become a widow, but they were also more efficacious, and therefore probably more salutary.After twenty-four hours of this she found she was obliged to yield, and a telegram was sent to Wharton,--by no means the first telegram that had been sent since the news had arrived,--saying that Emily would accompany her father.They were to occupy themselves for two days further in preparations for their journey.
These preparations to Emily were so sad as almost to break her heart.She had never as yet packed up her widow's weeds.She had never as yet contemplated the necessity of coming down to dinner in them before other eyes than those of her father and brother.She had as yet made none of those struggles with which widows seek to lessen the deformity of their costume.It was incumbent on her now to get a ribbon or two less ghastly than those weepers which had, for the last five months, hung about her face and shoulders.And then how would she look if he were to be there? It was not to be expected that the Whartons should seclude themselves because of her grief.This very change in the circumstances of the property would be sure, of itself, to bring the Fletchers to Wharton,--and then how should she look at him, how answer him, if he spoke to her tenderly? It is very hard for a woman to tell a lie to a man when she loves him.She may speak the words.She may be able to assure him that he is indifferent to her.But when a woman really loves a man, as she loved this man, there is a desire to touch him which quivers at her fingers'
ends, a longing to look at him which she cannot keep out of her eyes, an inclination to be near him which affects every motion of her body.She cannot refrain herself from excessive attention to his words.She has a god to worship, and she cannot control her admiration.Of all this Emily herself felt much,--but felt at the same time that she would never pardon herself if she betrayed her love by a gleam of her eye, by the tone of a word, or the movement of a finger.What,--should she be known to love again after such a mistake as hers, after such a catastrophe?
The evening before they started who should bustle into the house but Everett himself.It was about six o'clock, and he was going to leave London by the night mail.That he should be a little given to bustle on such an occasion may perhaps be forgiven him.
He had heard the news down on the Scotch coast, and had flown up to London, telegraphing as he did so backwards and forwards to Wharton.Of course he felt that the destruction of his cousin among the glaciers,--whether by brandy or ice he did not much care,--had made him for the nonce one of the important people of the world.The young man who would not so feel might be the better philosopher, but one might doubt whether he would be the better young man.He quite agreed with his father that it was his sister's duty to go to Wharton, and he was now in a position to speak with authority as to the duties of the members of his family.He could not wait, even for one night, in order that he might travel with them.Sir Alured was impatient.Sir Alured wanted him in Hertfordshire.Sir Alured had said that on such an occasion he, the heir, ought to be on the property with the shortest possible delay.His father smiled;--but with an approving smile.Everett therefore started by the night mail, leaving his father and sister to follow him on the morrow.
