登陆注册
5695500000027

第27章 CHAPTER VII.(2)

"May God bless you,and him too,whoever he be!But if you want a friend,I may be that friend,may I not?and try to prove that my words of regard were true,in a better and higher sense than I used them at first."And kissing her passive hand,he was gone and she was left sitting alone.

But solitude was not what she could bear.She went quickly upstairs,and took a strong dose of sal-volatile,even while she heard Miss Monro calling to her.

"My dear,who was that gentleman that has been closeted with you in the drawing-room all this time?"And then,without listening to Ellinor's reply,she went on:

"Mrs.Jackson has been here"(it was at Mrs.Jackson's house that Mr.

Dunster lodged),"wanting to know if we could tell her where Mr.

Dunster was,for he never came home last night at all.And you were in the drawing-room with--who did you say he was?--that Mr.

Livingstone,who might have come at a better time to bid good-bye;and he had never dined here,had he?so I don't see any reason he had to come calling,and P.P.C.-ing,and your papa NOT up.So I said to Mrs.Jackson,'I'll send and ask Mr.Wilkins,if you like,but Idon't see any use in it,for I can tell you just as well as anybody,that Mr.Dunster is not in this house,wherever he may be.'Yet nothing would satisfy her but that some one must go and waken up your papa,and ask if he could tell where Mr.Dunster was.""And did papa?"inquired Ellinor,her dry throat huskily forming the inquiry that seemed to be expected from her.

"No!to be sure not.How should Mr.Wilkins know?As I said to Mrs.

Jackson,'Mr.Wilkins is not likely to know where Mr.Dunster spends his time when he is not in the office,for they do not move in the same rank of life,my good woman;and Mrs.Jackson apologised,but said that yesterday they had both been dining at Mr.Hodgson's together,she believed;and somehow she had got it into her head that Mr.Dunster might have missed his way in coming along Moor Lane,and might have slipped into the canal;so she just thought she would step up and ask Mr.Wilkins if they had left Mr.Hodgson's together,or if your papa had driven home.I asked her why she had not told me all these particulars before,for I could have asked your papa myself all about when he last saw Mr.Dunster;and I went up to ask him a second time,but he did not like it at all,for he was busy dressing,and Ihad to shout my questions through the door,and he could not always hear me at first.""What did he say?""Oh!he had walked part of the way with Mr.Dunster,and then cut across by the short path through the fields,as far as I could understand him through the door.He seemed very much annoyed to hear that Mr.Dunster had not been at home all night;but he said I was to tell Mrs.Jackson that he would go to the office as soon as he had had his breakfast,which he ordered to be sent up directly into his own room,and he had no doubt it would all turn out right,but that she had better go home at once.And,as I told her,she might find Mr.Dunster there by the time she got there.There,there is your Ipapa going out!He has not lost any time over his breakfast!"Ellinor had taken up the Hamley Examiner,a daily paper,which lay on the table,to hide her face in the first instance;but it served a second purpose,as she glanced languidly over the columns of the advertisements.

"Oh!here are Colonel Macdonald's orchideous plants to be sold.All the stock of hothouse and stove plants at Hartwell Priory.I must send James over to Hartwell to attend the sale.It is to last for three days.""But can he be spared for so long?""Oh,yes;he had better stay at the little inn there,to be on the spot.Three days,"and as she spoke,she ran out to the gardener,who was sweeping up the newly-mown grass in the front of the house.

She gave him hasty and unlimited directions,only seeming intent--if any one had been suspiciously watching her words and actions--to hurry him off to the distant village,where the auction was to take place.

When he was once gone she breathed more freely.Now,no one but the three cognisant of the terrible reason of the disturbance of the turf under the trees in a certain spot in the belt round the flower-garden,would be likely to go into the place.Miss Monro might wander round with a book in her hand;but she never noticed anything,and was short-sighted into the bargain.Three days of this moist,warm,growing weather,and the green grass would spring,just as if life--was what it had been twenty-four hours before.

When all this was done and said,it seemed as if Ellinor's strength and spirit sank down at once.Her voice became feeble,her aspect wan;and although she told Miss Monro that nothing was the matter,yet it was impossible for any one who loved her not to perceive that she was far from well.The kind governess placed her pupil on the sofa,covered her feet up warmly,darkened the room,and then stole out on tiptoe,fancying that Ellinor would sleep.Her eyes were,indeed,shut;but try as much as she would to be quiet,she was up in less than five minutes after Miss Monro had left the room,and walking up and down in all the restless agony of body that arises from an overstrained mind.But soon Miss Monro reappeared,bringing with her a dose of soothing medicine of her own concocting,for she was great in domestic quackery.What the medicine was Ellinor did not care to know;she drank it without any sign of her usual merry resistance to physic of Miss Monro's ordering;and as the latter took up a book,and showed a set purpose of remaining with her patient,Ellinor was compelled to lie still,and presently fell asleep.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 女帝?皇后?送上门!

    女帝?皇后?送上门!

    【又名<残花败柳>】【本文】=【小女尊】+【小后宫】+【小江湖】+....【暂时没想到了】(超级慢热文)【第一卷轻松搞笑到第二卷的虐心虐肺】她怀恨入宫,刚入宫便被皇宫内所有人骂作"残花败柳"暗恋她许久的他愤怒之余,当着所有人的面强暴了她,血迹斑斑的白色床单,触目惊心的血红...是清白的证明还是....?同时她被贬为最卑微的"浣衣奴".....夜夜索欢,将她尊严和身体踏之脚下.....夜夜春宵,不论是心还是身,都不堪负荷.....☆¨¨¨¨★¨¨¨¨☆¨¨¨¨【如果有兴趣,那么就收藏吧】★¨¨¨¨☆¨¨¨¨★¨¨¨¨本文纯属虚构,如有雷同,纯属巧合。左儿其他的文:<冷酷皇帝俏丞相>(一个男人的普通穿越)(完结)喜欢的亲们,可以去看看左儿其他的文。〓收藏〓投票〓收藏〓一步到位!嘻嘻,看过喜欢的请收藏了。这样可以随时知道文文是否更新了。
  • 启示录

    启示录

    顾亭然是一名留学巴黎的中国学生。一个偶然的机会,他的同学克劳德参与了导师奎德先生的研究计划。可随着研究计划的深入,克劳德深受幻觉之苦:他在镜子中只能看见自己。动摇了自己是否存在于现实世界的克劳德在成为“镜子杀手”后自杀身亡。作为朋友,顾亭然希望为好友查明真相。同时,女主人公索菲亚也因为自己的父亲曾遭到克劳德的袭击而卷入事件当中。当根据线索追查到巴黎圣母院的院长安托万神父时,等待两位大学生的却是神父的尸体以及一张印有《圣经?启示录》内容的纸张。随后,每隔七天,便有一位对应于《启示录》中记载的七个教会的教堂的神父被杀……
  • 中医养生学

    中医养生学

    中医养生学是研究和阐释人类生命发生发展规律、增强体质、预防疾病、益寿延年的基础理论和方法的一门实用学科。
  • 北方的相思

    北方的相思

    与“下半身”写作不同,与晦涩、冷冽不同,女诗人桑小燕这本诗集充满情意——对万物有情,对亲人有情,对岁月有情,对一切生命有情……这一切温暖、深情,充盈着满满的爱。《北方的相思》一书,作者选择了近年来诗歌创作中的精华作品,以细腻的情感,生动的语言,心旷神怡的意境,抒发了诗人对人生、爱情、忠善的理解和追求。诗集分五辑,共195首诗歌。诗歌内容丰富,上天入地,表外里内,动物植物,山川河流,老人孩子,男人女人,思想情感,物质精神,几乎无所不包,饱含了诗人对生活的观察和感受。作者简介桑小燕,山西黎城人,中国作家协会会员。
  • 阿月

    阿月

    阿月七岁前的生活一直很安稳。虽然出身寒门,可父慈母爱,日子平淡和睦。有一天,一个老人推开门扉,自称是她的祖父——当朝大将军。又有一天,亲娘告诉她:“穿越大神来寻,娘要回去了。”阿月大雾,这日子好像要翻天覆地了。简而言之,这是一篇无忧少女宅门记。
  • 末世符修

    末世符修

    一场意外,这个世界的灵气得到了前所未有的提升,重现洪荒时代没有丧尸的末世!这是一个百族争鸣的时代,这种修炼者层出不穷,武者、道士、修真者、魔法师、战士、术士等等。一缕残魂,跨越重重时空而来。得到了残魂的毛方,从此展开了自己道。
  • 公主嫁到之莫少太傲娇

    公主嫁到之莫少太傲娇

    她是来自修真大陆,天齐国世人皆知,才貌双全的长公主。可是却是个从娘胎带剧毒出生的的主,常年坐在轮椅,体弱多病,性格淡漠。当再次睁开眼睛后却是另外一个世界。二十一世纪,没有原身记忆,性格淡漠的她该何去何从有亲人,好吧,可是为什么原身是结婚的,这个她没意见,可丈夫却是个桃花运多的数不清的。天生无欲无求,性情冷淡的她遇见像痞子,又像个小孩子的他,只能……男子气概全无,暴跳如雷的瞪着她“我不同意离婚,坚决不同意…”“哦”莫渊表示,遇到老是想离婚的老婆,怎么办,在线等,急……某男很烦恼,自己媳妇太受欢迎也不好(本文男女主强,较慢热,喜欢宠宠宠,有小虐,大虐太虐心,欢迎入坑。)
  • 探险记系列1

    探险记系列1

    深入神秘的地下世界----洞穴探险;与浮冰和冰山博弈——北极探险;向“未知的大陆”进军——南极探险;浩瀚宇宙,我们只不过是沧海一粟。对未知世界的探索,对神秘所在的探险,依然是一个历久弥新的话题。
  • 让我记了一个青春的男孩

    让我记了一个青春的男孩

    一时糊涂.今生今世.注定无缘.这算是个自传吧,这个一个很短很短的文。
  • 时空穿梭之龙帝

    时空穿梭之龙帝

    兵王垂死,获逆天机缘,混沌之体融合祖龙血脉,成就无上圣龙体,穿梭万界,曾驾驶机甲打爆怪兽,化龙斩妖除魔,更有吞噬异火,锤炼不灭战体。。。。