Reinette

“ Reinette’s eyes and manner when she gave the invitation had done their work with him.
“I really b’lieve the girl wants me to come, odd and homespun as I am,” he thought, and he made up his mind to do so, and Anna felt a cold sweat oozing out from her finger tips, as she wondered what Major Lord Rossiter would think of him.
“Are you sure you will enjoy it?” she said. “You know how long it is since you have been anywhere, and Reinette is very particular how her guests comport themselves—foolishly so, perhaps. You cannot eat in your shirt sleeves there, no matter how warm you may be.” ”

“ If you chance to hear of a trusty, middle-aged woman suitable for a housekeeper at Hetherton Place, retain her until Reinette can see her; and please have the conservatory and garden full of flowers. Reinette is passionately fond of flowers—fond, in fact, of everything bright and pretty. ”

“ Reinette asked, in astonishment, and grandma replied:
“Turned out by your Granther Hetherton, because I came over to tell him his son Fred had run off with your mother. Why, Rennet, child, what’s the matter! you are white as a sheet,” she continued, as with a long gasp for breath Reinette clasped both hands to her forehead and leaned helplessly back in her chair. ”

“ This allusion to dressmaking reminded Reinette of what Anna had said with regard to Miss La Rue who had proposed buying her mother’s business, and she questioned Phil of her, but he knew nothing, and Reinette continued:
“Oh, if it only were my Margery, I should be so happy. You don’t know how I love her; she is so sweet, and good, and beautiful. I’ve known her since we were little girls at school together. It was a private English school in Paris, where I was a boarder, and she a day scholar at half rate, because they were poor. ”

“ Unlocking the box, Reinette took out the exquisite necklace, bracelets, and ear-rings which her father told her her mother had worn to a ball, where she had been noted as the most beautiful woman present.
Taking them now to the bedside, she laid them upon the squares of blue and tried to picture to herself the beautiful woman in creamy white satin who had worn them and the girl who had picked berries with Mrs. Jerry, and worn the dress of blue. ”

“ Reinette laid great stress upon the human voice, insisting that by it she could tell how much of real culture or natural, inborn refinement its owner possessed. The sharp, loud voices of the Fergusons, with their peculiar intonation, had grated upon her nerves, but the well-modulated, well-trained tones of the young man had fallen on her ear like a strain of music among jarring discords.
Who was he? Not the brother, surely, of that tall blonde with the yellow plume and long lace scarf. ”

“ Then Reinette turned upon him hotly, and he never forgot the look of scorn in her blazing eyes, as she said:
“I know perfectly well what you mean, Mr. Beresford, and I despise you for it. Because Margery works—earns her own living—is a dressmaker—you, and people like you, look down upon her from your lofty platform of position and social standing, and I hate you for it; yes, I do, for how are you better than she, I’d like to know. ”

“ Reinette replied; then, touching Margery, she presented her to her grandmother, saying, as she did so: “She thinks you look like my mother, and perhaps you do, for I am sure you are more like a Ferguson than I am.”
The next day grandma went to the cottage, ostensibly to make some inquiries with regard to a dress, but really to see again the girl who was so like her daughter, and who was very kind and gentle with her, and said to her so sweetly:
“I am glad if I am like Mrs. Hetherton, for she was Reinette’s mother, and I am sure you will like me for it. I want people to like me.” ”

“ The stranger—a stuck-up piece from Boston—cared nothing for a girl whose mother made dresses for a living. Sometimes I get so mad I hate everything and everybody.”
Here Anna stopped a moment, and Reinette scanned her very closely from her head to her feet, deciding, mentally that she was good-looking, and had about her a certain style which strangers would naturally remark, even though it was rather fast than refined. But she was not a lady, either by nature or education, and Reinette, who, in some things was far-seeing for her years, saw readily the difficulty under which her cousin labored. ”

“ While Reinette was thinking all this, Anna began again:
“I wish mother would sell out and take that odious sign from our front window; we can live without dressmaking, but I’ve given it up. She had a chance a few weeks ago. A Frenchwoman from Martha’s Vineyard wrote, asking her terms, which she put so high that Miss La Rue declined, and so that fell through.”
“What did you call the woman?” Reinette asked, rousing up suddenly from her reclining posture and looking earnestly at Anna, who replied:
“Miss Margery La Rue, from Martha’s Vineyard. ”

“ Reinette replied, “never can get used to these people. You know I don’t mean you, for you are not like them, though I do think it very mean in you to stand there lecturing me so, when I wanted you to come to me so badly, and thought you would comfort me and smooth the trouble away, and instead of that you have done nothing but scold me ever since you’ve been here, and nobody ever dared to do that before but father, and you know how awfully my head is aching, and you’ve made it ten times worse. I am disappointed in you, Philip Rossiter ”

“ He, too, had the address of her authorized agent, and the mail for New York which left Merrivale next day carried two letters, one in English and one in French, directed to M. Jean Albrech, Mentone, France, and in the one written in French was a note for Christine Bodine, in whom Reinette had implicit faith as a true, good woman, notwithstanding what the Messrs. Polignie had insinuated against her. They were vile, suspicious people, Reinette said to herself, who, because her father paid money to a poor woman, thought she must be bad. ”

“ He knew now that Reinette was wishing to be reassured of her father’s truth and honor, and though he had but little faith that his late master had possessed either of those virtues to an overwhelming degree, he could not say so to the daughter; he would sooner tell her a hundred lies, and take his chance of being forgiven by and by.
“Thank you, Pierre,” she said. “You make me so happy. I like to think of father as a good, true, honest man; and I believe Christine was good.”
“Did the servants at Chateau des Fleurs ever mention her as other than a nice woman?” ”

“ La Rue was standing with her back to Reinette, picking the dead leaves from a pot of carnations, but she turned suddenly, and facing the girl, said quickly:
“Better leave the nurse where she is; you will be happier without her.”
“I don’t know why you should say that,” Reinette retorted, in a tone which showed her irritation that Mrs. La Rue should presume to dictate; “you certainly can know nothing of Christine Bodine.”
“Of course not, but I know that old nurses do not often add to the happiness of young ladies like you, so leave her alone; do not try to find her,” Mrs. ”

“ Clean the house; air Miss Reinette’s bed-chamber; move the old worm-eaten furniture, and substitute something light and cheerful which Reinette will like; put muslin curtains to her windows; get up a lot of horses for her inspection; fill the garden with flowers, where there’s nothing but nettles and weeds growing now; and, to crown all, hunt up a menagerie of dogs and cats, when, if there is one animal more than another of which I have a mortal terror, it is a cat. And this Reinette is passionately fond of them. Who is she, any way? I never heard before that Mr. Hetherton had a daughter ”

“ Anna asked.
“It is too long a story to tell you now,” Reinette replied. “I have known her since I was a child. I never thought anything about her being a dressmaker. She is educated, and refined, and good, and true, with not a single low instinct in her nature, and that, I think, is what constitutes a lady rather than money or what one does for a living.”
Anna shrugged her shoulders incredulously. In her own estimation she was refined and educated, and yet she was not recognized as a lady by those to whose notice she aspired ”

“ And with that queer perversity of man’s nature Phil liked it, and drew her closer to him, and felt his own eyes moisten, and his voice tremble as he said gently and pityingly, as women are wont to speak:
“Poor little Reinette, I am so sorry for you, for I know how you have suffered: and you have the headache, too, grandmother told me. She was here this morning. I hope you liked her. She is the kindest-hearted woman in the world.”
“Yes,” came faintly from the neighborhood of his hands, where Reinette’s face was hidden for an instant longer ”

“ I detest a little horse as much as I do a little woman, and I must have a great tall horse, who will carry me grandly and high. The biggest and grandest you can find.
“Truly, Reinette Hetherton.” It almost seemed to the young men that they held the unknown Reinette by the hand, so near did this letter bring her to them, and such insight into her character did it give them.
“She has a mind of her own and means to exercise it,” said Mr. Beresford, while Phil, intent upon the soft hat, said:
“You will lose your bet, old fellow. Nobody but an Amazon would insist upon a great tall horse. ”

“ But they gave her a novel and distingue look, and added to her beauty, which, now that he was studying her, struck Mr. Beresford as something remarkable, and made his eyes linger on the fair face with more admiration even than curiosity. But the likeness he sought for was not there, unless it were in the occasional toss of the head on one side—the significant shrug of the shoulders, or gestures of the hands—and something in the tone of the voice when it grew very earnest as she talked to him of Reinette, who was not like her in the least. ”

“ But aside from frequent ejaculations of surprise he made no comment, and just then the dinner-bell rang again, this time long and loud as if the ringer were growing impatient.
“Oh, that dreadful bell,” Reinette exclaimed, putting her hands to her ears to shut out the sound. “Will they never stop ringing it, or understand that I am not coming? Go, Pierre, and tell them to clear the table away; tell them I am sick and tired, and wish to be let alone; tell them anything to keep them away from me. No body must come to-night but you. Go quick, before 246they ring again, or Mrs. Jerry comes herself. ”

“ Beresford, thinking remorsefully of what he said to Reinette, and wondering if Phil would think that friendly, if he knew.
“I must tell somebody—talk to somebody, or go crazy,” Phil continued. “The fact is, I have made a fool of myself and been rejected, as I deserved.”
“You rejected! By whom?” Mr. Beresford asked, although he felt that he knew perfectly well what the answer would be.
“By Reinette, of course. What other woman is there on the face of the earth whose no is worth caring 224for? I asked her to be my wife, and she refused, and made me know she meant it ”

“ What Reinette willed to do she did at once, and in spite of the blinding pain in her head, she opened her desk and wrote as follows;
“Mr. Beresford:—I must see you. Come without delay.
Miss Hetherton.” This done, she attempted to dress, but finding an elaborate toilet too much for her, she contented herself with a cool, white cambric wrapper, with rows of lace and embroidery down the front, and bows of delicate pink ribbon on the pockets and sleeves. Over this she threw a dainty Parisian jacket or sacque of the same hue, letting her dark wavy hair fall loosely down her back. ”

“ She had said to herself that this which Reinette had told her was true; that her mother was Christine, and still there had been a faint hope that there might be some mistake; but there was none; her mother had declared it herself, and with a low cry she turned away, saying as she did so: “There are people in the parlor, and your voices are sometimes louder than you suppose, and though they cannot understand you, they will know you are excited and that there is trouble of some kind. Speak lower; do. ”

“ Reinette asked 59bending forward eagerly, and fixing her great dark eyes upon him.
“Your mother, child—your mother. Yes—no—don’t speak that name aloud. We’ve left her way over there, or I thought we had. That’s why I was going home—to get away from it, and—if——Queenie, where are you? I can’t see you, child. You are surely here? You are listening?”
“Yes, yes, father, I am here. I am listening,” and the girl’s rigid face and fixed, wide-open eyes showed how intently she was listening.
“Yes, child, that’s right; listen so close that nobody else can hear. We are all alone?” ”

“ Grandma says I ought to have somebody—some middle-aged, respectable woman, as a kind of guardian—but, ugh! I hate guardians!”
“Oh, I hope not!” Mr. Beresford said, laughingly, managing to retain the hand laid in his so naturally. “In one sense I am your guardian, and I hope you don’t hate me.”
“Certainly not,” Reinette said. “I think you are very nice. You are father’s friend, and he said I must like you, and tell you everything, and I do like you ever so much, though not the way I do Phil. ”

“ The world is very beautiful, and I mean to be happy.”
During this scene in the grounds Mrs. Jerry, the housekeeper, had been inspecting the little lady from behind the kitchen blinds, and now, as the party entered the wide hall, she came forward to meet her in her neat calico dress and clean linen collar, with her hair combed smoothly back from her frank, open brow. She knew she was there on trial, subject to Miss Reinette’s fancy, and as she liked the place, and was desirous of keeping it, she naturally felt some anxiety with regard to the impression she should make upon the girl. ”