With the dawning of
brighter days in spring she could not but think of the Forest with fresh
longing, and she watched each morning's post for the arrival of that
invitation to Fairfield which Lady Latimer had promised to send. At
length it came, and after brief demur received a favorable answer. The
squire had a mortified consciousness that his granddaughter's life was
not very cheerful, and, though he did not refuse her wish, he was unable
to grant it heartily. However, the fact of his consent overcame the
manner of it, and Bessie was enjoying the pleasures of anticipation, and
writing ecstatically to her mother, when an event happened that threw
Abbotsmead into mourning and changed the bent even of her desires.
One chilly evening after dinner, when she had retreated to the octagon
parlor, and was dreaming by the fireside in the dusk alone, Jonquil,
with visage white as a ghost, ushered in Mr. John Short. He had walked
over from Mitford Junction, in the absence of any vehicle to bring him
on, and was jaded and depressed, though with an air of forced composure.
As Jonquil withdrew to seek his master the lawyer advanced into the
firelight, and Bessie saw at once that he came on some sad errand. Her
grandfather had gone, she believed, to look after his favorite hunter,
which had met with a severe sprain a week ago; but she was not sure, for
he had been more and more restless for some time past, had taken to
walking at unaccustomed hours, to neglecting his correspondence, leaving
letters for days unopened, and betraying various other signs of a mind
unsettled and disturbed.
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