A Houseful of Girls | Page 9

of news. I forgot all about it; but you will be
interested, no doubt. The Grange is sold!"
The expression of curiosity on his daughters' faces was exchanged for
one of blank amazement. Even his wife gave a start of surprise, and
turned towards him with eager inquiry.
"Let! Really let, Alfred? You don't mean it?"
"So I am told."
"We've been told so so often that one grows sceptical. Is it really and
truly sold, and the deeds signed? I sha'n't believe it unless they are, for
difficulties have cropped up so often at the last moment. Are you quite
sure this time?"
"As sure as it is possible to be about anything in this wicked world.
Braithwaite tells me it's an accomplished fact. The deeds are signed,
and the workmen are to begin putting the house in order next week.
You may take it as settled this time, for the man really means to come.
He is a certain Ernest Vanburgh by name, and has been living abroad
for some years."
"And is there a Mrs Vanburgh, and has he any children, and are they
young or grown up?"
"Is he a dull sort of man, or will he be hospitable, and give dinners and
parties and help to make the place lively?"

"Is he musical, father, because there's that lovely big room where we
could have such charming musical evenings?"
Mr Rendell shrugged his shoulders with an air of resignation.
"How like a woman, or rather, I should say, how like half a dozen
women put together! My dears, I know absolutely nothing about the
man, except that he has bought the place. He is in a hurry to get settled,
so you will probably find out all about him for yourselves before many
weeks are over. It's no use asking questions. He was willing to pay
down the money, and that was all that Braithwaite cared about. He may
be a bachelor or a second Bluebeard, for all I know; but I suppose in
either case he will still be better than nobody."
"Of course he will. Blank windows are so dull. Curtains are much more
interesting. There's so much character in curtains. I can tell the sort of
woman who lives in a house merely by looking at her curtains. It will
be a new interest in life to have the Grange let again."
"And I have a Feeling that it will be an Epoch in our lives. I have a
Feeling that our Fate and that of the new tenants will be inextricably
woven together. It may be foolish, but these convictions are borne in
upon me; I cannot help them!" cried Elsie, clasping her hands and
opening her blue eyes to the fullest capacity, as she turned a gaze of
mysterious raptness upon the group by the fireplace. "Perhaps in years
to come we may look back upon this evening as a milestone marking
out the past from the future, and realise--"
A burst of laughter put a stop to further sentimentalising, and Elsie
retired within her shell, aggrieved and dignified; but for once she was
right in her surmises, for her own fate and that of her sisters was indeed
destined to be permanently affected by the coming of the new tenant of
the Grange.
CHAPTER FOUR.
CASTLES IN THE AIR.

The news that the Grange was sold was truly of great interest to the
Rendell family, for the house faced their own on the opposite side of
the road, and its uninhabited condition had been a standing grievance.
That one of the handsomest houses of the neighbourhood should
remain empty was a serious matter in a small community, and the
younger girls listened with bated breath to the accounts of the gorgeous
entertainments which had been given by the last tenant, hoping against
hope that the time would soon come when the house would once more
be thrown open, and the great oak-panelled rooms re-echo to the sound
of music and laughter. Like their own house, a portion of the Grange
abutted on to the high road, so that a row of windows lay immediately
open to inspection; but two great wings stretched back to right and left,
and the house was surrounded on three sides by beautiful and extensive
grounds. The late owner had spent lavishly in beautifying the place,
and had asked in return a sum so exorbitant, that though many
would-be tenants had arrived to look over the house, one and all drew
back when the nature of his demands was made known, and the Rendell
girls were not the only people who had despaired of a settlement. But
now at last a delightful certainty had been gained, the deeds were
signed, and the long waiting was at an end!