登陆注册
5382100000008

第8章 CHAPTER II(3)

But Ruth fancied that Mr. Bellingham looked as if he could understand the feelings of those removed from him by circumstance and station. He had drawn up the windows of his carriage, it is true, with a shudder. Ruth, then, had been watching him. Yet she had no idea that any association made her camellia precious to her. She believed it was solely on account of its exquisite beauty that she tended it so carefully. She told Jenny every particular of its presentation, with open, straight-looking eye, and without the deepening of a shade of colour. "Was it not kind of him? You can't think how nicely he did it, just when I was a little bit mortified by her ungracious ways." "It was very nice, indeed," replied Jenny. "Such a beautiful flower! Iwish it had some scent." "I wish it to be exactly as it is--it is perfect. So pure!" said Ruth, almost clasping her treasure as she placed it in water. "Who is Mr. Bellingham?" "He is son to that Mrs. Bellingham of the Priory, for whom we made the grey satin pelisse," answered Jenny sleepily. "That was before my time," said Ruth. But there was no answer. Jenny was asleep. It was long before Ruth followed her example. Even on a winter day, it was clear morning light that fell upon her face as she smiled in her slumber.

Jenny would not waken her, but watched her face with admiration; it was So lovely in its happiness. "She is dreaming of last night," thought Jenny. It was true she was; but one figure flitted more than all the rest through her visions. He presented flower after flower to her in that baseless morning dream, which was all too quickly ended. The night before she had seen her dead mother in her sleep, and she wakened weeping. And now she dreamed of Mr. Bellingham, and smiled. And yet, was this a more evil dream than the other? The realities of life seemed to cut more sharply against her heart than usual that morning. The late hours of the preceding nights, and perhaps the excitement of the evening before, had indisposed her to bear calmly the rubs and crosses which beset all Mrs. Mason's young ladies at times. For Mrs. Mason, though the first dressmaker in the county, was human after all; and suffered, like her apprentices, from the same causes that affected them. This morning she was disposed to find fault with everything, and everybody. She seemed to have risen with the determination of putting the world and all that it contained (her world, at least) to rights before night; and abuses and negligences, which had long passed unreproved, or winked at, were to-day to be dragged to light, and sharply reprimanded.

Nothing less than perfection would satisfy Mrs. Mason at such times. She had her ideas of justice, too; but they were not divinely beautiful and true ideas; they were something more resembling a grocer's or tea-dealer's ideas of equal right. A little over-indulgence last night was to be balanced by a good deal of over-severity to-day; and this manner of rectifying previous errors fully satisfied her conscience. Ruth was not inclined for, or capable of, much extra exertion; and it would have tasked all her powers to have pleased her superior. The work-room seemed filled with sharp calls. "Miss Hilton! where have you put the blue Persian? Whenever things are mislaid, I know it has been Miss Hilton's evening for siding away!" "Miss Hilton was going out last night, so I offered to ear the work-room for her. I will find it directly, ma'am," answered one of the girls. "Oh, I am well aware of Miss Hilton's custom of shuffling off her duties upon any one who can be induced to relieve her," replied Mrs. Mason. Ruth reddened, and tears sprang to her eyes; but she was so conscious of the falsity of the accusation, that she rebuked herself for being moved by it, and, raising her head, gave a proud look round, as if in appeal to her companions. "Where is the skirt of Lady Farnham's dress? The flounces not put on! Iam surprised! May I ask to whom this work was entrusted yesterday?" inquired Mrs. Mason, fixing her eyes on Ruth. "I was to have done it, but I made a mistake, and had to undo it. I am very sorry." "I might have guessed, certainly. There is little difficulty, to be sure, in discovering, when work has been neglected or spoilt, into whose hands it has fallen." Such were the speeches which fell to Ruth's share on this day of all days, when she was least fitted to bear them with equanimity. In the afternoon it was necessary for Mrs Mason to go a few miles into the country. She left injunctions, and orders, and directions, and prohibitions without end; but at last she was gone, and, in the relief of her absence, Ruth laid her arms on the table, and, burying her head, began to cry aloud, with weak, unchecked sobs. "Don't cry, Miss Hilton,"--"Ruthie, never mind the old dragon,"--"How will you bear on for five years, if you don't spirit yourself up not to care a straw for what she says?"--were some of the modes of comfort and sympathy administered by the young workwomen. Jenny, with a wiser insight into the grievance and its remedy, said-- "Suppose Ruth goes. out instead of you, Fanny Barton, to do the errands.

The fresh air will do her good; and you know you dislike the cold east winds, while Ruth says she enjoys frost and snow, and all kinds of shivery weather." Fanny Barton was a great sleepy-looking girl, huddling over the fire. No one so willing as she to relinquish the walk on this bleak afternoon, when the east wind blew keenly down the street, drying up the very snow itself.

同类推荐
  • The Country of the Pointed Firs

    The Country of the Pointed Firs

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 训蒙骈句

    训蒙骈句

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • H307

    H307

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 百丈清规证义记

    百丈清规证义记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 幼学琼林

    幼学琼林

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 绛守居园池

    绛守居园池

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 仇史

    仇史

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 大方广佛华严经入法界品

    大方广佛华严经入法界品

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 浮世

    浮世

    风卷雪裹的旗镇,有三条远近文明的巷子:财馆好汉巷、烟馆神仙巷、妓院杏花巷;还有纸灯笼街、野鸡岭、豪华岭、豪华典雅的人头红楼,以及时常有钟声响起的北大庙和圣·尼拉大教堂。山里种罂粟的烟客,深夜出没国境走私的“扒皮老客”,杀人越货绑票抢劫的“胡子”......镇子上来了一个神秘的旅行家,裤裆街口的千年榆一夜间竟旺绿了一大枝,注定了旗镇一段撼魂动魄的兴衰传奇。作品境界内涵悠远,格调品位高雅,犹如一幅“清明上河图”的艺术长卷。
  • 关于我所创造的那个世界

    关于我所创造的那个世界

    这里写的是一些比较虐的故事,慎入。这本书是作者空闲时写的。我会努力更新的。如果太监的话,我会发单章。
  • 元始无量度人上品妙经通义

    元始无量度人上品妙经通义

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 开罪不起的人

    开罪不起的人

    为何善人贫穷,恶人富贵?你我都说时间未到,因果不虚。那到底由谁来定夺此人得的是善果还是恶果,果报成熟的时间?答曰:金甲判官是也!
  • 全阶战术

    全阶战术

    最强战神名扬天下,曾经杀遍一国,无人能挡。后却遭到江湖神秘组织魔师团的黑手。千年之后他重生于世间,再次踏上了巅峰之路。寻找并铲除魔师团这一邪教,为世人除害……
  • 重生洪荒之尸道

    重生洪荒之尸道

    我自沉沦世间,奈何天意难测,重回远古,与天斗,与神魔斗。武器,我有鸿蒙圣器,功法,我有上古极致修真《尸神诀》,且看我一步步攀登至尊巅峰,成就远古鸿蒙尸祖,走出一条不一样的尸修之路!
  • 魂穿北越:残妃要休夫

    魂穿北越:残妃要休夫

    〖此文非女强文,不喜慎入〗手术室里的一场意外让她成了替死鬼,去了鬼府,一不小心还得罪了鬼君,被鬼君在背后放冷箭,成了名副其实的残废!女子报仇,十年不晚,这个仇她记下了!殊不知,在她进入那个残废身体的第二天,鬼君就被天君罚到人间做一世凡人……认了个神医谪仙当师傅,没想到这个美男谪仙师傅来头还不小,居然是妖界妖皇!嫁了个有权没钱的太子爷,两人互阴,互斗……最后,她一直想要的休书,居然成了他要挟她的把柄!月圆之夜,滴血为誓……那个被传得神乎其乎的铁骑令,居然是三百年前仙妖魔大战时,魔皇给自己留下的一线生机!月圆之夜,滴血为誓,魔皇现世—