Wynnette

“ Odalite, Wynnette and Elva came in, in their poke bonnets and buttoned coats.
“Oh, Miss Grandiere, excuse us, but yours was the only light we saw gleaming around the edges of the blinds, and so we knocked at your door,” said Wynnette, who always took the initiative in speaking, as in other things.
“My dear child! how is it that you children are out, after dark?” inquired the lady.
“We have been making the rounds to bid good-by to the neighbors. Mamma and papa went out yesterday, and we to-day. ”

“ Wynnette gazed and wondered—wondered and gazed, until, drawn by an irresistible fascination, she arose slowly and turned from the window, went past her sister’s bed, stooped over, saw that Odalite was fast asleep, and then she softly opened the chamber door, passed out and closed it behind her.
In the upper hall lights were always left burning low through the night. ”

“ I will marry poor dear Le myself—that is, when I am big enough. I always did like Le.”
“You! You marry Le!” exclaimed Wynnette, opening her black eyes to their widest capacity.
“Yes, when I am big enough—that is, I mean, unless you would take him. That would be ever so much better.” ”

“ I loathe him! I abhor him! And if there is any stronger word in the English or any other language, I that him!” exclaimed Wynnette, clenching her fist and grinding her teeth.
“I say my prayers three times a day not to hate him; but, oh, dear!” sighed little Elva.
“And I’ll tell you what it is, Le. She hates him worse than I do,” added Wynnette. 103
“My child! ‘She?’ Who?” exclaimed Le, starting, and coming to a dead halt.
“Why, Odalite.”
“Wynnette, do you know what you are saying, dear?” demanded Le, in great agitation.
They had now reached Chincapin Creek bridge, and all had come to a stop. ”

“ Rosemary was poetic, romantic and sentimental to a degree. She was devoted to Wynnette and Elva Force; and she could not bear the idea of Wynnette “throwing herself away” on such a rustic.
“He is my own dear cousin, Wynnette, and I love him dearly as a cousin; but, indeed, I could not marry him to save my soul! And though he is a good boy, I do not think he is a proper match for you,” said Rosemary, one morning, when she had come to spend the day at Mondreer, and the two girls were tête-à-tête in Wynnette’s room, where she had taken her visitor to lay off her bonnet. ”

“ I can’t speak the dreadful word, Wynnette. Poor Le! I tell you what I’ll do, Wynnette.”
“What?”
“Well, if the worst comes to the worst, and that colonel does take Odalite away from Le——”
“Of course he will take Odalite away from Le. There is not a doubt of it. I shall have the pleasure of speaking my mind to the scalawag—I mean the wretch—but that is all I shall get; and he, he will feel ashamed of himself, perhaps, and that is all he will do. He is not a man to give up anything he wants; and he wants Odalite, and he means to have her—the brute!” ”

“ Odalite took no notice of this speech. Wynnette answered:
“Oh, you needn’t fret your nerves to fiddle strings about that—I mean you need not distress yourself, ma’am. She hates him, and so do I. And so does Elva. In spite of prayer book and catechism, we hate him. We can’t help it.” ”

“ I correct myself almost every time,” said Wynnette, and then craning her neck with dignity, she added—“What I meant to say about your entertainment, Miss Bayard, was that it is far the most enjoyable I have attended this season.”
“Thank y’, honey, that’s better! A young lady can’t be too particular, sez I!” concluded Miss Sibby. But before she finished speaking the whirl of the reel had carried Wynnette off to the other end of the room. ”

“ We are very glad to see you again!”
“After your uncommonly bad behavior in sulking and hiding yourself for the last three days,” added Wynnette, who was now standing beside her youngest sister.
“You wrong the beautiful and benignant sun, Wynnette, 286 dear,” said Miss Meeke, coming up behind them. “The sun is always shining for us. The earth turns around from the sun, and it is night—turns toward him, and it is day. The earth wanders far away from the sun, and it is winter—comes toward him again, and it is summer. But the sun shines in the empyrean all the time, wherever the earth may be. ”

“ The girl made no reply, but began to lay out towels on the washstand, and to pour water from the ewer into the basin.
“This is a very lonesome country, though, isn’t it?” inquired Wynnette, who was bound to talk.
“There’s not a many gentry, ma’am. There be mill hands and pitmen mostly about here,” said the girl.
“Mill hands and pitmen! I saw no mills nor mines, either, as we drove along.”
“No, ma’am; but they beant far off. The hills do hide them just about here; but you might seen the high chimneys—I mean the tops of ’em and the smoke.” ”

“ The girls then took leave of all their friends at Grove Hill and entered the capacious carriage, accompanied by Miss Grandiere and Rosemary—that is, two of them did. One was missing.
“Where is Wynnette?” inquired Miss Grandiere, as she sank into the cushions.
“She is on the box, driving, while Jacob is sitting with folded arms beside her,” answered Odalite.
“It is highly improper.”
“You cannot do anything with Wynnette, Miss Susannah. She will drive as often as she can. And Jacob’s presence beside her makes it safe, at least. ”

“ Unchain him, I say!” exclaimed Wynnette. And without waiting for her orders to be obeyed, she sprang from the carriage, fell upon the dog’s neck, and covered him with caresses.
“Oh, you dear, good, true, trusty old fellow! To know us all again after so many years! To be so glad to see us! And to forgive us at once for going away and leaving 140you behind. You would never have left us, would you, my dog? Ah! dogs are a great deal more faithful than human beings.”
While Wynnette with her own hands unloosed the chain, the other members of the family alighted from the break. ”

“ But there! go along with her. Never mind me; I can make myself at home anywheres!” exclaimed the visitor, beginning to pull off her overshoes then and there.
Miss Meeke and Wynnette invited and conducted her upstairs to the best bedchamber, situated in front of the house, with windows overlooking the bay; furnished with maple wood and blue chintz, and warmed by a fine, open, wood fire.
Wynnette drew an armchair to the fire, and made the panting guest sit down in it, while Miss Meeke looked to the washstand, to see if there were water and towels enough. ”

“ His trumpery was to be sent after him by to-night’s express.”
“Thank Heaven!” again fervently breathed Elfrida Force.
“What’s all that you’re talking about over there?” inquired the lady from the mines, rising from her seat on the sofa and unceremoniously joining the group around her hostess. “What’s up now? I heard the name of my fine scamp mentioned just now! Has anything happened to him? Has he broken his neck, eh?”
“Oh, no!” sighed Wynnette, in a tone of regret; “he has not broken his neck. Fate reserves that for the hangman to do! He has only left the neighborhood to return to England. ”

“ Odalite read the brief notice, and then she turned to the sketch and said:
“This is longer, and I need not read the whole of it, you know.”
“No. Just pick out the plums from the pudding. I never read the whole of anything. Life is too short,” said Wynnette. ”

“ Wynnette did not think it necessary to explain that she had seen Old Zillah and heard her story.
To no one could the girl breathe one word of her terrible night in the old castle. Sometimes she was half inclined to believe that she had really fallen asleep on 298the window sill and dreamed it all—from the moment of horror and amazement when the spectral eyes lighted up the loopholes of the old wall, to the moment when she was awakened by the voice of her sister. ”

“ Oh, no, you wouldn’t, Wynnette. And you must not, for all the world, put such a thing in poor Le’s head. He will be in trouble enough when he comes home, poor fellow, to find his sweetheart taken away from him without having—oh! ”

“ It is not yet seven.’
“And it is always so. He always looks at us as if he was saying to himself:
“But this time, thank goodness, we happened to hear Le’s voice in the hall, and we skedaddled—I mean we left the drawing room and came in here, mamma, dear,” said Wynnette.
“What did Ingle talk about, or find to talk about, while you two were hanging around him like a wet blanket?” inquired Le, who often amused himself at Wynnette’s expense.
“Oh, not much. He couldn’t make love to Nat right before our four looking eyes—I mean he couldn’t pay his addresses to Miss Meeke in our presence. ”

“ Wynnette tacitly pleaded guilty by a deep blush.
“Now, honey, don’t you take it anyways amiss what I am a-gwine to say. You’re gwine off to furrin parts. 167Now, honey, don’t you let any of them there furrin colonels and counts and things fashionate you away from you own dear sweetheart. He’s a good, true man, is Sam Grandiere, and a ole neighbor’s son. Now you take my advice and be true to him, as he is sure to be true to you. Them as breaks faith, sez I, is sure to pay for it, sez I. There, now, I won’t say no more. ”

“ The poor bones, after six centuries, were coffined and consigned, with Christian rites, to the family vault at Enderby Church.’”
“I say, Le, what a perfectly devilish lot those old nobles were! I proud of my ancestry! I would much rather know myself to be descended in a direct line from Darwin’s monkeys,” said Wynnette.
“But, my dear, these men lived in a rude and barbarous age. Their descendants in every generation have become more civilized and enlightened, you know.” ”

“ Wynnette and Le were gone nearly an hour. At last they returned.
“What kept you so long? Did the dog prove intractable, or the baggage master unaccommodating?” inquired Odalite of Le.
“Not at all!” exclaimed Wynnette, answering for her companion. “That baggage man’s a good sort. He and 175Joshua became pals at once. He loves dogs, and dogs love him. As soon as ever I presented Joshua to him he held out his hand, and said:
“‘Hello, old pard! how are you? Shall we be pals?’ or words to that effect. ”

“ I would have her build her hopes of happiness on better foundations. Where can I find her?”
“She is in her own room; but I would not talk to her to-day. She is so shaken. Her little, tender heart is so pained—now that she has decided to please herself—to think of the suffering she may cause Le.”
“Oh, that is what is the matter with her, is it? Well, tell her Le must console himself with Wynnette! Oh, it will all come right! I am quite confident that it will all come right!” happily concluded the honest squire, rising to leave the room. ”

“ Wynnette was seventeen; tall, thin and dark; with the same mischievous eyes, snub nose, full, ripe lips, and short, curly, black hair.
Elva was fifteen, tall for her age, thin, fair, with soft, blue eyes, and light, flaxen hair.
Rosemary Hedge was also fifteen years old, but very tiny for her age, with slender limbs and little mites of hands and feet, a small head covered with fine, silky black hair, a fair, clear, bright complexion, and large, soft, tender blue eyes. ”

“ But my reverend courier failed to find her where I had left her, at her father’s country seat, Mondreer, and heard that she was with her family in Washington. He came here in 111search of my wife, but again failed to meet her. He was told that she was traveling with her family in Canada. In short, my agent failed to find her, and returned to England from his fruitless errand.”
“Lord! how that man can lie!—I mean, what reckless assertions he can make!” said Wynnette, in a low tone, to Roland. ”

“ We have had nothing since we left Lancaster, at three o’clock, and it is now half-past seven. You must be both tired and hungry,” said the squire, leading her in.
“‘I’m killed, sire,’” responded Wynnette, misapplying a line from Browning, as she limped along on her father’s arm.
The man who had driven them from the railway station, and whom after developments proved to be waiter, hostler, groom and bootblack rolled into one for 198the guests of the White Cow, left his horse and cart standing and ran before Mr. Force to show the travelers into the house. ”

“ This apartment was also brightly lighted by a chandelier, which hung from the ceiling over the well-spread table, and warmed by a clear little wood fire in the open chimney.
“Strawberries and wood fires! The charms of summer and winter meeting in spring!” exclaimed Wynnette, glancing from the open chimney to the piled-up glass bowl of luscious fruit that stood as the crowning glory of the table.
“Raised under glass, honey. And a time I had to keep the little niggers from stealing them! Children may be little angels, but I never seed one yet as wouldn’t steal fruit when it could get a chance.” ”

“ You may find the ‘Anglesea Arms’ as attractive as this inn,” replied the squire, who was drawing on his railway duster—a needless operation, since there was no more dust on the moor than could have been found on the sea.
“‘The Anglesea Arms,’ papa? No, thank you. The name is enough for me. I would rather sit in the old cart all day and eat bread and cheese, and sleep in the cart all night, gypsy fashion, than take rest or refreshment at the Anglesea Arms,” exclaimed Wynnette.
207“But, my dear, you are unjust. ”

“ Here Wynnie spoke, though with some tremor in her voice.
"I never know, papa, what people mean by talking about childhood in that way. I never seem to have been a bit younger and more innocent than I am."
"Don't you remember a time, Wynnie, when the things about you—the sky and the earth, say—seemed to you much grander than they seem now? You are old enough to have lost something." ”