She was tired with the incidents of the day. At dinner Mr.
Fairfax seemed to miss something that had charmed him the night before.
She answered when he spoke, but her gayety was under eclipse. They were
both relieved when the evening came to an end. Bessie was glad to escape
to solitude, and her grandfather experienced a sense of vague
disappointment, but he supposed he must have patience. Even Jonquil
observed the difference, and was sorry that this bright young lady who
had come into the house should enter so soon into its clouds; he was
grieved too that his dear old master, who betrayed an unwonted humility
in his desire to please her, should not at once find his reward in her
affection. Bessie was not conscious that it would have been any boon to
him. She had no rule yet to measure the present by except the past, and
her experience of his usage in the past did not invite her tenderness. A
reasonable and mild behavior was all she supposed to be required of her.
Anything else--whether for better or worse--would be spontaneous. She
could not affect either love or dislike, and how far she could dissemble
either she had yet to learn.
CHAPTER XX.
_PAST AND PRESENT._
The next morning Bessie was left entirely at liberty to amuse herself.
Mr. Fairfax had breakfasted alone, and was gone to Norminster before
she came down stairs. Jonquil made the communication. Bessie wondered
whether it was often so, and whether she would have to make out the
greater part of the days for herself.
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