"
"Oh no, I have not. He lost me an opportunity that may come again I know
not when," said Bessie impetuously.
"I must persuade your grandfather to lend you to me for a month next
spring, when the leaves are coming out and the orchards are in blossom;
or, if he cannot spare you then, when the autumn tints begin."
"Oh, thank you! But I think the Forest lovely at all seasons--when the
boughs are bare or when they are covered with snow."
Bessie would have been glad that the invitation should come now, without
waiting for next year, but that was not even thought of. Lady Latimer
was looking towards the gentlemen, more interested in their interests
than in the small Beechhurst chat that Bessie would never have tired of.
After a few minutes of divided attention my lady rose, and _a propos_ of
the Norminster election expressed her satisfaction in the career that
seemed to be opening for Mr. Cecil Burleigh:
"Lord Latimer thought highly of him from a boy. He was often at Umpleby
in the holidays. He is like a son to my old friend at Brentwood; Lady
Angleby is happy in having a nephew who bids fair to attain distinction,
since her own sons prefer obscurity. She deplores their want of
ambition: it must be indeed a trial to a mother of her aspiring temper."
So my lady talked on, heard and not often interrupted; it was the old
voice and grand manner that Bessie Fairfax remembered so well, and once
so vastly reverenced.
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