CHAPTER VII.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 349, 9 March 1889, Page 6

CHAPTER VII.

A FAMILY PARTY. When Dulqie entered the dining-room,- she found her mother and sistors already seated at table, each one intent upon supplying her own immediate wants, with a fine disregard, born of over-familiarity, for those of her neighbour. A.n occasional ' Pass the salt, please,' or ' Give me the butter,' were the j only sounds, save those of steady mastication, that broke the silence. Ethel was bending her long, white neck over a poached eeg, which she was demolishing with evident reli&h, for, despite her ethereal appeal anco, sho possessed a remarkably healthy appetite, and thoroughly appreciated the pleasures of gastronomy. Marian had just accounted for a goodly round of toast, Charlotte stirring her tea with an air of superior complacency ; whilst Mrs Shepperton was in the act of devouring a juicy mutton chop. Dulcie's appearance gave the signal for an immediate diversion, greatly to that young lady's discomfitmc, for she had hoped to slip in unnoticed. ' Why, Dulcio child !' exclaimed Mrs Shepperton, in a fretful voice, ' where on earth have you been hiding all this long, sultry afternoon ?' 'X haven t been hiding anywhere,' ;»he answered, sturdily. ' I've been down at the brook with Bob, and it was not a bit too hot there. Indeed, it was quite cool and pleasant under the trcrs.' 'So I should imagine,' rejoined Mrs Shepperton, severely, ' and pray, may I ask what you were doing in Bob's society again? It appears to me you aio never absent from his side, except when with Mademoiselle Viiginie, who, I am sure, ought to take a little better care of her charge than she does.' ' Don't blame poor old Virginic, mamma. I can't bear her, but it was not her fault. It happened to be a half-holiday, or rather 1 got through my lessons this morning, and she did not even know where I had gone to.' 1 Then she should. I object to you being so much with that gieat hulking, d nothing Bob Mornington.' Dulcie bit her lip and changed colour. She hated this style of conversation. ' I presume,' she replied, with forced composure, ' that you have no objection to my meeting Bob? Ho is my oldest and dearest friend.' • Hoity toity ! Oldest and dearest friend, indeed ! I suppose he is Charlotte's and Ethel's and Marian's oldest and dearest friend just every bit as much as he is your?. Yet they do not want to rush off and see Bob Mornington at all horns of the day.' Dulcie's face, as she listened to this speech, grew perfectly crimson, while a fierce, defiant li^ht began to ppaikle in the dark eyes, whose pupils were large and dilated. ' ' 1 don't know what you mean,' she retorted, with an icy frigidity of manner that only too surely betokened an inward volcano. She was trying hard to keep her temper, if only for the sake of that request she wished, when circumstances were less unfavourable, to profiler, but the endeavour rapidly became moie and more difficult. It seemed so mean to sit still and say nothing when Bob was being abused ; yet sho knew full well that her championship only did his cause more harm than good, and. that any attempt at defending the absent was fruitless. 'I'm not so sure of that,' responded Mrs Shepperton coolly. ' And I reahy wonder, Dulcie, how it is you do not recogni ccc c the fact of your being too big to allow yourself to get talked about with Bob Mornington.' ' I don't see what my sue has got to do with it,' interrupted the girl impatiently. '• If people want to talk, they might have talked years ago.' ' Nonsense ! ' Your friendship, or whatever you like to call it, was all very well when you were boy and girl together ; but now that you are a young woman, nearly ready to make your debut in society, and Bob a young man whose acquaintance, carried beyond a certain point, is likely to prove exceedingly unprofitable and undesirable, you should be more sensible, and begin to think, like other girls of your age, about a serious settlement in life.' ' I don't want to be settled in life,' cried Dulcie, passionately, unable any longer to control her feelings, ' more especially if that process entails behaving unkindly and ungratefully towards the friend of my child hood. Besides, I can see no good in getting married. Nine people out of ten only squabble and fight, and I would a thousand times sooner remain as I am. Spinsterhood ha* no terrois for me.' Certainly, with her sweet young face glowing with generous emotion, and the delicate colour deepening in her soft cheeks, it did nob appear likely that it would, or that Dulcie would ever be allowed to join the band of unwooed and unsolicited virgins whose charms have failed to excite competition. 4 You're a silly little goose,' returned her mother, disdainfully, • and don't know the least what you're talking about ; while, ab for Bob, he's very nearly as bad. My eyes are tolerably sharp, and I can see quite well, at the present moment, that he is head over ears in lovo with you.' The hot indignant blood flamed up into Dulcie's face. 'You ought not to say such things, mamma,' she said, angrily. 'Bob Mornington has never spoken a word to mo in his life that all the world might not hear, and it's not fair to him, or,' lowering her voice, ' to, — to mo, making such assertions.' Dulcie would not willingly have told an untruth, and she firmly believed what she said. Bob's fondness for her society, the pleasure she took in his, their mutual sympathy and interchanges of ideas, she in her innocence had hitherto attributed entirely to, friendship ; and, if her eyes very shortly were destined to be opened as to the exact .sentiments they entertained one for the -other, Mrs Shepperton undoubtedly did her best to precipitate events. ' Bob always was a fool,' said Ethel, with a sneer. He was no favourite ot the beauty's. Some four or five years ago, she had condescended to establish a mild flirtation. Somehow the attempt had failed signally y the little picture of pastoral coquetry on the one side, and of eternal affection on the other, which she had drawn in her mind's eye, had proved a delusion. Was there ever a woman yet r free enough from the foibles of her sex to 'forgive or forget a want of responsiveness ? ' Bob is by no means as stupid as you imagine,' said Dulcio hotly. • Indeed ! Many thanks for so gratifying a piece of information,' retorted Ethel, with a provoking smile, which annoyed

Dulcie to such an extent that for the moment she felt she positively Imbed that smooth, beautiful face, with its innocentlooking violet eyes and little, straight, clear-cut nose. •He passed his examinations so brilliantly, didn't he V 'Oh!do be quiet ! And for goodness' sake, leave poor Bob alone.' 'Do I desire better ? No, no, it neod nob put ibself into a passion, for I have not the slightest intention of taking its lover away from it. However,' she continued, sarcastically, • if you take my advice you won't lose your temper about nothing. At this momont, Dulcie, you are looking downright ugly, and a woman should always be careful of her good looks.' ' Good looks, indeed ! I believe you live : for nothing else.' ' And very proper, too. All men appreciato a well -dressed girl when they see her.' | ' Faugh ! Bob does not care two straws what I wear !' asserted Dulcie, imprudently. ' Very likely not. Mr Bob's tastes are by no means refined, and stand sadly in need of cultivation ; still I daresay they suit yours well enough.' The tears started into Dulcie's eyes. All her soul rose up in revolt against Ethel's cruel sarcasms, but she knew by experience how her warm young passions were apt to get worsted when opposed to the other's contemptuous cynicism ; and, with a great effort at self-con-trol, &ho remained silent, though the heart within her was very sore. Hers was essentially a truthful and outspoken nature, incapable of deceit. Up till this moment she had fully intended asking leave to go with Bob on thoir expedition of the morrow, but whenshe found how hostile both her mother and Ethel were towards the young man, and how they delighted in abusing him in her presence, she reoolved to stick to her promise, through thick and thin, and, with or without permission, ride to the kennels at the hour appointed. If she were disobedient, they had driven her into opposition by their lack oi sympathy. Argument and reason, she told herself, were thrown away upon people so worldly, narrow-minded, and unchari table. They could not enter into her feel ings, sinco their ideas were too utterly op posed. Either Mrs Shepporton could not, would not, or was not capable of comprehending her youngest daughter's disposition, or that it felt cramped and fettered by the narrow grooves of their overy-day life. Consequently the girl shut herself up in a proud reserve that passed for stupidity. Her surroundings were so unsympathetic that, finding her confidences were either repulsed or ridiculed, she nob unnaturally refrained from making any, and remained as complete a stranger to her mother as if they were no wise allied. Perhaps such a state of things exists more often in families than is suspected. People live under the same roof, eat at the ?ame board, and even share the same bedchamber, without knowing any more of the inward workings of each other's minds, of their higher natures or secret yearnings, than if thej' were total strangers. Few as were the years Dulcie numbered, she already began to feel how blank life is when forced to spend one's days in the society of uncongenial and illiberal people ( of alien natures and opposite ideas.