Lady Angleby will give a
ball if Cecil win and you ask her."
"_I_ ask her! But I should never dare."
"She will be only too glad of the opportunity, and you may dare anything
with her when she is pleased. She has always been dear Cecil's fast
friend, and his triumph will be hers. She will want to celebrate it
joyously, and nothing is really so joyous as a good dance. We will have
a good dance."
CHAPTER XXIII.
_BESSIE SHOWS CHARACTER._
At breakfast, Mr. Fairfax handed a letter to Bessie. "From home, from my
mother," said she in a glad undertone, and instantly, without apology,
opened and read it. Mr. Cecil Burleigh took a furtive observation of her
while she was thus occupied. What a good countenance she had! how the
slight emotion of her lips and the lustrous shining under her dark
eyelashes enhanced her beauty! It was a letter to make her happy, to
give her a light heart to go to Brentwood with. Mrs. Carnegie was always
sympathetic, cheerful, and loving in her letters. She encouraged her
dear Bessie to reconcile herself to absence, and attach herself to her
new home by cultivating all its sources of interest, and especially the
affection of her grandfather. She gave her much tender, reasonable
advice for her guidance, and she gave her good news: they were all well
at home and at Brook, and Harry Musgrave had come out in honors at
Oxford. The sunshine of pure content irradiated Bessie's face.
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