Page:Gaskell - North and South, vol. II, 1855.djvu/322

 cousins, which left Margaret free, it is true, but rather wearied with the inanity of the day, coming upon depressed spirits and delicate health.

One of the great pleasures of Margaret's life at this time, was in Edith's boy. He was the pride and plaything of both father and mother, as long as he was good; but he had a strong will of his own, and as soon as he burst out into one of his stormy passions, Edith would throw herself back in despair and fatigue, and sigh out, "Oh dear, what shall I do with him! Do, Margaret, please ring the bell for Hanley."

But Margaret almost liked him better in these manifestations of character than in his good blue-sashed moods. She would carry him off into a room, where they two alone battled it out; she with a firm power which subdued him into peace, while every sudden charm and wile she possessed, was exerted on the side of right, until he would rub his little hot and tear-smeared face all over hers, kissing and caressing till he often fell asleep in her arms or on her shoulder. Those were Margaret's sweetest moments. They gave her a taste of the feeling that she believed would be denied to her for ever.

Edith piqued herself on her dinner-parties; "so different," as she said, "from the old heavy dowager dinners under mamma's regime," and Mrs. Shaw seemed to take exactly the same kind of torpid pleasure in the very different arrangements and circle of acquaintance which were to Captain and Mrs. Lennox's taste, as she did in the more formal and ponderous entertainments which she herself had for-