Anne Hereford. Mrs. Henry Wood

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СКАЧАТЬ and ask to be sent on, unless a carriage met me here."

      "You must mean Mr. Edwin Barley of Hallam."

      "Yes, that's it. Is it far?"

      "Well, Hallam's five miles off, and the house is a mile on this side of it. There's no rail, Miss; you must go by the omnibus."

      "But you are sure that Mrs. Edwin Barley has not come to meet me?" I asked, feeling a sort of chill.

      Not any one had come, and the porter put me into the omnibus with some more passengers. What a long drive it seemed! And the hedges and trees looked very dreary, for the shades of evening were gathering.

      At the foot of a hill the omnibus pulled up, and a man who had sat by the driver came round. "Ain't there somebody inside for Mr. Edwin Barley's?"

      "Yes; I am."

      I got out, and the luggage was put upon the ground. "Two shillings, Miss," said the man.

      "Two shillings!" I repeated, in great alarm.

      "Why, did you expect to come for one--and inside too! It's uncommon cheap, is this omnibus."

      "Oh, it is not that. But I have not any money."

      "Not got any money!"

      "They did not give me any. They gave the guard my fare to Nettleby. Mr. Sterling said I should be sure to be met."

      The man went up to the driver. "I say, Bill, this child says she's got no money."

      The driver turned round and looked at me. "We can call to-morrow for it; I daresay it's all right. Do you belong to the Barleys, Miss?"

      "Mrs. Edwin Barley is my aunt. I am come on a visit to her."

      "Oh, it's all right. Get up, Joe."

      "But please," said I, stopping the man, in an agony of fear--for I could see no house or sign of one, save a small, round, low building that might contain one room--"which is Mr. Edwin Barley's? Am I to stay in the road with the boxes?"

      The man laughed, said he had supposed I knew, and began shouting out, "Here; missis!" two or three times. "You see that big green gate, Miss?" he added to me. "Well, that leads up to Mr. Barley's, and that's his lodge."

      A woman came out of the lodge; in answer to the shouts, and opened the gate. The man explained, put the trunks inside the gate, and the omnibus drove on.

      "I beg pardon that I can't go up to the house with you, Miss, but it's not far, and you can't miss it," said she. "I have got my baby sick in its cradle, and dare not leave it alone. You are little Miss Hereford?"

      "Yes."

      "It's odd they never sent to meet you at Nettleby, if they knew you were coming! But they have visitors at the house, and perhaps young madam forgot it. Straight on, Miss, and you'll soon come to the hall-door; go up the steps, and give a good pull at the bell."

      There was no help for it: I had to go up the gloomy avenue alone. It was a broad gravel drive, wide enough for two carriages to pass each other; a thick grove of trees on either side. The road wound round, and I had just got in sight of the house when I was startled considerably by what proved to be a man's head projecting beyond the trees. He appeared to be gazing steadfastly at the house, but turned his face suddenly at my approach. But for that, I might not have observed him. The face looked dark, ugly, menacing; and I started with a spring to the other side of the way.

      I did not speak to him, or he to me, but my heart beat with fear, and I was glad enough to see lights from several of the windows in front of me. I thought it a very large house; I found afterwards that it contained eighteen rooms, and some of them small: but then we had lived in a pretty cottage of six. There was no need to ring. At the open door stood a man and a maid-servant, laughing and talking.

      "Who are you?" cried the girl.

      "I want Mrs. Edwin Barley."

      "Then I think want must be your master," she returned. "It is somebody from Hallam, I suppose. Mrs. Edwin Barley cannot possibly see you to-night."

      "You just go away, little girl," added the footman. "You must come to-morrow morning, if you want anything."

      Their manner was so authoritative that I felt frightened, nearly crying as I stood. What if they should really turn me away!

      "Why don't you go?" asked the girl, sharply.

      "I have nowhere to go to. My boxes are down at the gate."

      "Why, who are you?" she inquired, in a quick tone.

      "I am Miss Hereford."

      "Heart alive!" she whispered to the man. "I beg your pardon, Miss. I'll call Charlotte Delves."

      "What's that? Who will you call?" broke from an angry voice at the back of the hall. "Call 'Charlotte Delves,' will you? Go in to your work this instant, you insolent girl. Do you hear me, Jemima?"

      "I didn't know you were there, Miss Delves," was the half-saucy, half-deprecating answer. "The young lady has come--Miss Hereford."

      A tall, slight, good-looking woman of thirty-five or thirty-six came forward. I could not tell whether she was a lady or a smart maid. She wore a small, stylish cap, and a handsome muslin gown with flounces--which were in fashion then. Her eyes were light; long, light curls fell on either side her face, and her address was good.

      "How do you do, Miss Hereford?" she said, taking my hand. "Come in, my dear. We did not expect you until next week. Mrs. Barley is in the drawing-room."

      "Mrs. Barley is in her chamber, dressing for dinner," contended Jemima, from the back of the hall, as if intent on aggravation.

      Miss Delves made no reply. She ran upstairs, and opened a door, from whence came a warm glow of fire-light. "Wait there a moment," she said, looking round at me. "Mrs. Edwin Barley, the child has come."

      "What child?" returned a voice--a young, gay, sweet, voice.

      "Little Miss Hereford."

      "My goodness! Come to-day! And I with no mourning about me, to speak of. Well, let her come in."

      I knew my Aunt Selina again in a moment. She had stayed with us in Devonshire for three months two years before, when she was nineteen. The same lovely face, with its laughing blue eyes, and its shining golden hair. She wore an embroidered clear-muslin white dress, with low body and sleeves, and a few black ribbons; jet bracelets, and a long jet chain.

      "You darling child! But what made you come in this strange way, without notice?"

      "Mr. Sterling said he wrote word to you, Selina, that I should be here on Thursday. You ought to have had the letter yesterday."

      "Well, so he did write; but I thought--how stupid I must have been!" she interrupted, with a sudden laugh. "I declare I took it to mean next Thursday. But you are all the more welcome, dear. You have grown prettier, Anne, with those deep eyes of yours."

      I stood before her very gravely. I had СКАЧАТЬ