THE WITCH'S HEAD (Occult & Supernatural Thriller). Henry Rider Haggard

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      CHAPTER VI

       JEREMY FALLS IN LOVE

       Table of Content

      Jeremy, for the first time for some years, had no appetite for his dinner that day, a phenomenon that filled Dorothy with alarm.

      "My dear Jeremy," she said afterwards, "what /can/ be the matter with you? you had only one helping of beef and no pudding!"

      "Nothing at all," he replied sulkily; and the subject dropped.

      "Doll," said Jeremy presently, "do you know Miss Eva Ceswick?"

      "Yes, I have seen her twice."

      "What do you think of her, Doll?"

      "What do you think of her?" replied that cautious young person.

      "I think she is beautiful as--as an angel."

      "Quite poetical, I declare! What next! Have you seen her?"

      "Of course, else how should I know she was beautiful?"

      "Ah, no wonder you had only once of beef!"

      Jeremy coloured.

      "I am going to call there this afternoon: would you like to come?" went on his sister.

      "Yes, I'll come."

      "Better and better: it will be the first call I ever remember your having paid."

      "You don't think she will mind, Doll?"

      "Why should she mind? Most people don't mind being called on, even if they have a pretty face."

      "Pretty face! She is pretty all over."

      "Well, then, a pretty all over. I start at three; don't be late."

      Thereupon Jeremy went off to beautify himself for the occasion, and his sister gazed at his departing form with the puzzled expression that had distinguished her as a child.

      "He's going to fall in love with her," she said to herself, "and no wonder; any man would; she is 'pretty all over,' as he said, and what more does a man look at? I wish that /she/ would fall in love with him /before Ernest comes home/;" and she sighed.

      At a quarter to three Jeremy reappeared, looking particularly huge in a black coat and his Sunday trousers. When they reached the cottage where Miss Ceswick lived with her nieces, they were destined to meet with a disappointment, for neither of the young ladies was at home. Miss Ceswick, however, was there, and received them very cordially.

      "I suppose that you have come to see my newly imported niece," she said; "in fact, I am sure that you have, Mr. Jeremy, because you never came to call upon me in your life. Ah, it is wonderful how young men will change their habits to please a pair of bright eyes!"

      Jeremy blushed painfully at this sally, but Dorothy came to his rescue.

      "Has Miss Eva come to live with you for good?" she asked.

      "Yes, I think so. You see, my dear, between you and me, her aunt in London, with whom she was living, has got a family of daughters, who have recently come out. Eva has been kept back as long as possible, but now that she is twenty it was impossible to keep her back any more. But then, on the other hand, it was felt--at least I think that it was felt--that to continue to bring Eva out with her cousins would be quite to ruin their chance of settling in life, because when /she/ was in the room, no man could be got to look at /them/. So, you see, Eva has been sent down here as a penalty for being so handsome."

      "Most of us would be glad to undergo heavier penalties than that if we could only be guilty of the crime," said Dorothy, a little sadly.

      "Ah, my dear, I daresay you think so," answered the old lady. "Every young woman longs to be beautiful and get the admiration of men, but are they any the happier for it? I doubt it. Very often that admiration brings endless troubles in its train, and perhaps in the end wrecks the happiness of the woman herself and of others who are mixed up with her. I was once a beautiful woman, my dear--I am old enough to say it now--and I can tell you that I believe that Providence cannot do a more unkind thing to a woman than to give her striking beauty, unless it gives with it great strength of mind. A weak-minded beauty is the most unfortunate of her sex. Her very attractions, which are sure to draw the secret enmity of other women on to her, are a source of difficulty to herself, because they bring her lovers with whom she cannot deal. Sometimes the end of such a woman is sad enough. I have seen it happen several times, my dear."

      Often in after-life, and in circumstances that had not then arisen, did Dorothy think of old Miss Ceswick's words, and acknowledge their truth; but at this time they did not convince her.

      "I would give anything to be like your niece," she said bluntly, "and so would any other girl. Ask Florence, for instance."

      "Ah, my dear, you think so now. Wait till another twenty years have passed over your heads, and then if you are both alive see which of you is the happier. As for Florence, of course she would wish to be like Eva; of course it is painful for her to have to go about with a girl beside whom she looks like a little dowdy. I daresay that she would have been as glad if Eva stopped in London as her cousins were that she left it. Dear, dear! I hope they won't quarrel. Florence's temper is dreadful when she quarrels."

      This was a remark that Dorothy СКАЧАТЬ