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Beauty and The Beast-Part34_Bayard Taylor(1825-1878)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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accelerated movement could not be guessed from his demeanor. She



glanced at him now and then, with bright eyes and flushed cheeks,

eager to speak yet shrinking from the half magisterial air which



was beginning to supplant his old familiar banter. Henry was

changing with his new responsibility, as she admitted to herself



with a sort of dismay; he had the airs of an independent farmer,

and she remained only a farmer's daughter,--without any



acknowledged rights, until she should acquire them all, at a single

blow, by marriage.



Nevertheless, he must have felt what was in her mind; for, as he

cut out the quarter of a dried apple pie, he said carelessly:



"I must go down to the Lion, this afternoon. There's a fresh drove

of Maryland cattle just come."



"Oh Harry!" cried Betty, in real distress.

"I know," he answered; "but as Miss Bartram is going to stay two



weeks, she'll keep. She's not like a drove, that's here one day,

and away the next. Besides, it is precious little good I shall



have of her society, until you two have used up all your secrets

and small talk. I know how it is with girls. Leonard will drive



over to meet the train."

"Won't I do on a pinch?" Leonard asked.



"Oh, to be sure," said Betty, a little embarrassed, "only Alice--

Miss Bartram--might expect Harry, because her brother came for me



when I went up."

"If that's all, make yourself easy, Bet," Henry answered, as he



rose from the table. "There's a mighty difference between here and

there. Unless you mean to turn us into a town family while she



stays--high quality, eh?"

"Go along to your cattle! there's not much quality, high or low,



where you are."

Betty was indignant; but the annoyance exhausted itself healthfully



while she was clearing away the dishes and restoring the room to

its order, so that when Leonard drove up to the gate with the



lumbering, old-fashionedcarriage two hours afterwards, she came

forth calm, cheerful, fresh as a pink in her pink muslin, and



entirely the good, sensible country-girl she was.

Two or three years before, she and Miss Alice Bartram, daughter of



the distinguishedlawyer in the city, had been room-mates at the

Nereid Seminary for Young Ladies. Each liked the other for



the contrast to her own self; both were honest, good and lovable,

but Betty had the stronger nerves and a practical sense which



seemed to be admirable courage in the eyes of Miss Alice, whose

instincts were more delicate, whose tastes were fine and high, and



who could not conceive of life without certain luxurious

accessories. A very cordial friendship sprang up between them,--



not the effusive girl-love, with its iterative kisses, tears, and

flow of loosened hair, but springing from the respect inspired by



sound and positive qualities.

The winter before, Betty had been invited to visit her friend in



the city, and had passed a very excited and delightful week in the

stately Bartram mansion. If she were at first a little fluttered



by the manners of the new world, she was intelligent enough to

carry her own nature frankly through it, instead of endeavoring to



assume its character. Thus her little awkwardnesses became

originalities, and she was almost popular in the lofty circle when



she withdrew from it. It was therefore, perhaps, slightly

inconsistent in Betty, that she was not quite sure how Miss Bartram



would accept the reverse side of this social experience. She

imagined it easier to look down and make allowances, as a host,



than as a guest; she could not understand that the charm of the

change might be fully equal.



It was lovely weather, as they drove up the sweet, ever-changing

curves of the Brandywine valley. The woods fairly laughed in the



clear sunlight, and the soft, incessant, shifting breezes.

Leonard, in his best clothes, and with a smoother gloss on his



brown hair, sang to himself as he urged the strong-boned horses

into a trot along the levels; and Betty finally felt so quietly



happy that she forgot to be nervous. When they reached the station




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