Chapter 6 - Page 2

she felt that, after such
an audacious confession, something very serious must happen; but nothing
serious happened at all. Singularly enough, it was Lady Theobald herself
who looked ill at ease, and as though she had not been prepared for such
a contingency.

During the whole of the evening, in fact, it was always Lady Theobald
who was placed at a disadvantage, Lucia discovered. She could hardly
realize the fact at first; but before an hour had passed, its truth was
forced upon her.

Capt. Barold was a very striking-looking man, upon the whole. He was
large, gracefully built, and fair: his eyes were gray, and noticeable for
the coldness of their expression, his features regular and aquiline, his
movements leisurely.

As he conversed with her grandmother, Lucia wondered at him privately. It
seemed to her innocent mind that he had been everywhere, and seen every
thing and everybody, without caring for or enjoying his privileges. The
truth was, that he had seen and experienced a great deal too much. As an
only child, the heir to a large property, and heir prospective to one of
the oldest titles in the country, he had exhausted life early. He saw in
Lady Theobald, not the imposing head and social front of Slowbridge
social life, the power who rewarded with approval and punished with a
frown, but a tiresome, pretentious old woman, whom his mother had asked
him, for some feminine reason, to visit. "She feels she has a claim upon
us, Francis," she had said appealingly.

"Well," he had remarked, "that is rather deuced cool, isn't it? We have
people enough on our hands without cultivating Slowbridge, you know."

His mother sighed faintly.

"It is true we have a great many people to consider; but I wish you would
do it, my dear."

She did not say any thing at all about Lucia: above all, she did not
mention that a year ago she herself had spent two or three days at
Slowbridge, and had been charmed beyond measure by the girl's innocent
freshness, and that she had said, rather absently, to Lady Theobald,--

"What a charming wife Lucia would make for a man to whom gentleness and a
yielding disposition were necessary! We do not find such girls in society
nowadays, my dear Lady Theobald. It is very difficult of late years to
find a girl who is not spoken of as 'fast,' and who is not disposed to
take the reins in her own hands. Our young men are flattered and courted
until they become a little dictatorial, and our girls are spoiled at
home. And the result is a great deal of domestic unhappiness
afterward--and even a great deal of scandal, which is dreadful to
contemplate. I cannot help feeling the greatest anxiety in secret
concerning