Dynevor Terrace, vol 2 | Page 8

Charlotte Mary Yonge
you, Isabel, nor of the lad neither!'
'You need not think it, dear Mr. Mansell. There is nothing between
Lord Fitzjocelyn and myself but the warmest friendship.'
'Isabel! Isabel! why are you making mysteries? I do not wish to pry into
your affairs. I would have trusted you anywhere; but when it comes
round to me that you have been sending a private messenger to one of
the young gentlemen there, I don't know what to be at! I would not
believe Mrs. Mansell at first; but I saw the boy, and he said you had
sent him yourself. My dear, you may mean, very rightly -I am sure you

do, but you must not set people talking! It is not acting rightly by me,
Isabel; but I would not care for that, if it were acting rightly by
yourself.' And he gazed at her with a piteous, perplexed expression.
'Let me call mamma,' said Isabel.
'As you will, my dear, but cannot you let the simple truth come out
between you and your own blood-relation, without all her words to
come between? Can't you, Isabel? I am sure you and I shall understand
each other.'
'That we shall,' replied Isabel, warmly. 'I have given her no promise.
Dear Mr. Mansell, I have wished all along that you should know that I
am engaged, with her full consent, to Mr. Frost Dynevor.'
'To the little black tutor!' cried Mr. Mansell, recoiling, but recollecting
himself. 'I beg your pardon, my dear, he may be a very good man, but
what becomes of all this scrambling over barricades with the young
Lord?'
Isabel described the true history of her engagement; and it was received
with a long, low whistle, by no means too complimentary.
'And what makes him come and hide in holes and corners, if this is all
with your mamma's good will?'
'Mamma thought you would be displeased; she insisted on taking her
own time for breaking it to you,' said Isabel.
'Was there ever a woman but must have her mystery? Well, I should
have liked him better if he had not given into it!'
'He never did!' said Isabel, indignant enough to disclose in full the
whole arrangement made by Lady Conway's manoeuvres and lax good-
nature. 'I knew it would never do,' she added, 'though I could not say so
before her and Fitzjocelyn. My note was to tell them so: and look here,
Mr. Mansell, this is what Mr. Dynevor had already written before
receiving mine.'
She held it out proudly; and Mr. Manaell, making an unwilling sound
between his teeth, took it from her; but, as he read, his countenance
changed, and he exclaimed, 'Ha! very well! This is something like! So
that's it, is it? You and he would not combine to cheat the old man, like
a pair of lovers in a trumpery novel!'
'No, indeed!' said Isabel, 'that would be a bad way of beginning.'
'Where is the young fellow?--at Ebbscreek, did you say? I'll tell you
what, Isabel,' with his hand on the bell, 'I'll have out the dogcart this

minute, and fetch him home to breakfast, to meet my Lady when she
comes down stairs, if it be only for the sake of showing that I like plain
dealing!'
'Isabel could only blush, smile, look doubtful, and yet so very happy
and grateful, that Mr. Mansell became cautious, lest his impulse should
have carried him too far, and, after having ordered the vehicle to be
prepared, he caught her by the hand, and detained her, saying, 'Mind
you, Miss, you are not to take this for over-much. I'm afraid it is a silly
business, and I did not want you to throw yourself away on a
schoolmaster. I must see and talk to the man myself; but I won't have
anything that's not open and above-board, and that my Lady shall see
for once in her life!'
'I'm not afraid,' said Isabel, smiling. 'James will make his own way with
you.'
Isabel ran away to excuse and explain her confession to Lady Conway;
while Mr. Mansell indulged in another whistle, and then went to inform
his wife that he was afraid the girl had been making a fool of herself;
but it was not Lady Conway's fault that she was nothing worse, and he
was resolved, whatever he did, to show that honesty was the only thing
that would go down with him.
The boat was rocking on the green waves, and Louis was in the act of
waving an adieu to deaf Mrs. Hannaford, when a huntsman's halloo
caused James to look round and behold Mr. Mansell standing up in his
dogcart, making energetic signals with his whip.
He had meant to be very guarded, and wait to judge of James
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