It had appeared a sudden famine to her heart, this entire cessation of any news respecting the people amongst whom she had lived so long. It was true, that Dixon, in her business-letters, quoted, every now and then, an opinion of Mr. Thornton's as to what she had better do about the furniture, or how act in regard to the landlord of the Crampton Terrace house. But it was only here and there that the name came in, or any Milton name, indeed;and Margaret was sitting one evening, all alone in the Lennoxes's drawing-room, not reading Dixon's letters, which yet she held in her hand, but thinking over them, and recalling the days which had been, and picturing the busy life out of which her own had been taken and never missed; wondering if all went on in that whirl just as if she and her father had never been;questioning within herself, if no one in all the crowd missed her, (not Higgins, she was not thinking of him,) when, suddenly, Mr. Bell was announced;and Margaret hurried the letters into her work-basket, and started up, blushing as if she had been doing some guilty thing. 'Oh, Mr. Bell! I never thought of seeing you!' 'But you give me a welcome, I hope, as well as that very pretty start of surprise.' 'Have you dined? How did you come? Let me order you some dinner.' 'If you're going to have any. Otherwise, you know, there is no one who cares less for eating than I do. But where are the others? Gone out to dinner? Left you alone?' 'Oh yes! and it is such a rest. I was just thinking--But will you run the risk of dinner? I don't know if there is anything in the house.' 'Why, to tell you the truth, I dined at my club. Only they don't cook as well as they did, so I thought, if you were going to dine, I might try and make out my dinner. But never mind, never mind! There aren't ten cooks in England to be trusted at impromptu dinners. If their skill and their fires will stand it, their tempers won't. You shall make me some tea, Margaret.
And now, what were you thinking of? you were going to tell me. Whose letters were those, god-daughter, that you hid away so speedily?' 'Only Dixon's,' replied Margaret, growing very red. 'Whew! is that all? Who do you think came up in the train with me?' 'I don't know,' said Margaret, resolved against making a guess. 'Your what d'ye call him? What's the right name for a cousin-in-law's brother?' 'Mr. Henry Lennox?' asked Margaret. 'Yes,' replied Mr. Bell. 'You knew him formerly, didn't you? What sort of a person is he, Margaret?' 'I liked him long ago,' said Margaret, glancing down for a moment. And then she looked straight up and went on in her natural manner. 'You know we have been corresponding about Frederick since; but I have not seen him for nearly three years, and he may be changed. What did you think of him?' 'I don't know. He was so busy trying to find out who I was, in the first instance, and what I was in the second, that he never let out what he was;unless indeed that veiled curiosity of his as to what manner of man he had to talk to was not a good piece, and a fair indication of his character.
Do you call him good looking, Margaret?' 'No! certainly not. Do you?' 'Not I. But I thought, perhaps, you might. Is he a great deal here?' 'I fancy he is when he is in town. He has been on circuit now since I came.
But--Mr. Bell--have you come from Oxford or from Milton?' 'From Milton. Don't you see I'm smoke-dried?' 'Certainly. But I thought that it might be the effect of the antiquities of Oxford.' 'Come now, be a sensible woman! In Oxford, I could have managed all the landlords in the place, and had my own way, with half the trouble your Milton landlord has given me, and defeated me after all. He won't take the house off our hands till next June twelvemonth. Luckily, Mr. Thornton found a tenant for it. Why don't you ask after Mr. Thornton, Margaret?
He has proved himself a very active friend of yours, I can tell you. Taken more than half the trouble off my hands.' 'And how is he? How is Mrs. Thornton?' asked Margaret hurriedly and below her breath, though she tried to speak out. 'I suppose they're well. I've been staying at their house till I was driven out of it by the perpetual clack about that Thornton girl's marriage. It was too much for Thornton himself, though she was his sister. He used to go and sit in his own room perpetually. He's getting past the age for caring for such things, either as principal or accessory. I was surprised to find the old lady falling into the current, and carried away by her daughter's enthusiasm for orange-blossoms and lace. I thought Mrs. Thornton had been made of sterner stuff.' 'She would put on any assumption of feeling to veil her daughter's weakness,'
said Margaret in a low voice. 'Perhaps so. You've studied her, have you? She doesn't seem over fond of you, Margaret.' 'I know it,' said Margaret. 'Oh, here is tea at last!' exclaimed she, as if relieved. And with tea came Mr. Henry Lennox, who had walked up to Harley Street after a late dinner, and had evidently expected to find his brother and sister-in-law at home. Margaret suspected him of being as thankful as she was at the presence of a third party, on this their first meeting since the memorable day of his offer, and her refusal at Helstone. She could hardly tell what to say at first, and was thankful for all the tea-table occupations, which gave her an excuse for keeping silence, and him an opportunity of recovering himself. For, to tell the truth, he had rather forced himself up to Harley Street this evening, with a view of getting over an awkward meeting, awkward even in the presence of Captain Lennox and Edith, and doubly awkward now that he found her the only lady there, and the person to whom he must naturally and perforce address a great part of his conversation.