Page:010 Once a week Volume X Dec 1863 to Jun 64.pdf/618

 now, but that she was too well bred a servant to do anything of the sort. A whole week since the change! it seemed next to impossible that Lady Laura should be in ignorance of it. She answered quietly.

“Lord Oakburn is dead, my lady—that is, the late Lord Oakburn—and my master is Lord Oakburn now.”

“I never heard of such a thing!” exclaimed Laura, sinking into a chair in her astonishment. “When did he die? How long have you known it?”

“He died on the Tuesday, yesterday week, my lady. He died of fever at Chesney Oaks, and the letter that came on the Wednesday morning to our house was not for him, after all, but for my master.”

“And when did you find out that it was for papa?—when was it first known at home?”

‘My lady, it was known just about the time that you left it. Mr. Grey was there that evening, if you remember, and he told the news of Lord Oakburn’s illness; that he was lying without hope a day or two previous at Chesney Oaks. There could be no doubt then, he said, that the letters had come for my master as Earl of Oakburn.”

“I wonder whether Lewis knew it?” was the question that crossed Laura’s heart. “Mr. Grey spoke to him that night as he left our house. But no, he could not know it,” came the next thought in her unbounded love and confidence, “or he would have told me.”

Question after question she poured upon Judith, and the woman told all she knew. Lord Oakburn was at home again now, she said, but she believed he and the young ladies were very soon to depart for Chesney Oaks.

“Judith,” resumed Laura at length, her other questions being exhausted, and she lowered her voice to timidity as she spoke, “was papa very—very furious with me that night?”

“My lady, you forget that I have said he had gone before it was known that you were missing. It was to tell him of it that Lady Jane went the next day all the way to Chesney Oaks.”

“True,” murmured Laura. “Does he seem in a terrible way over it, now that he is back?”

“Yes, I fear he is,” Judith was obliged to answer.

“And what did you come here for to-night, Judith? You said you had a message from my sister.”

Judith explained about the clothes, why it was that so few had been brought, and those at the last moment. The message from Jane, though put into the least offensive words possible, was to the effect that Laura must not venture at present to seek to hold intercourse in any shape whatever with her family.

Laura threw back her head with a disdainful gesture. “Does that interdict emanate from my sister herself?” she asked.

“I think not, Miss Lau—my lady. She cannot go against the wishes of the earl.”

“1 know that she will not,” was Laura’s scornful comment. “Well, Judith, tell Lady Jane from me that it’s no more than I expected, and that I hope they’ll come to their senses sometime.”

“And the little girl whispered to me as I was coming away to give her love, if you please,” concluded Judith.

“Darling child!” echoed Laura. “She’s worth ten of that cold Jane.”

Mr. Carlton entered as Judith departed, Laura stood talking with him on the new aspect of affairs, but she was no wiser at the conclusion of the conversation than she had been at the beginning, as to his having known of Lord Oakburn’s death previous to their flight. He drew her attention to the tea-table, which looked inviting enough with its savoury adjuncts that Hannah had prepared and laid out.

“Yes, presently,” she said, “but I will take my things off first. You must please to show me my way about the house, Lewis,” she added laughing, as she turned at the door and waited. “I don’t know it yet.”

Mr. Carlton laughed in answer, and went with her into the hall. It was a handsomer and more spacious residence than the one she had relinquished, Cedar Lodge, but it was a sadly poor one as placed in comparison with Chesney Oaks. On the opposite side of the hall in front was a sitting-room, where Mr. Carlton generally received any patients who came to him, and behind that room and at the back were the kitchens. On the opposite side to the kitchens and behind the dining-room a few steps led down to the surgery, which was close to the side entrance of the house.

The staircase wound round from the back of the hall, Laura ascended it with Mr. Carlton. There was plenty of space here. A handsome drawing-room and three bed-chambers. In the front chamber, Laura’s from henceforth, stood Sarah, unpacking the bundle brought by Judith, and ready to attend on her new mistress.

“Any alteration can be made in these rooms that you wish, Laura,” observed Mr. Carlton. “If you would like one of them converted into a boudoir for yourself”

Mr. Carlton’s words were disturbed by a ring at the front door; a ring so loud and