第210章

Of course it came to pass that Lily Dale and Emily Dunstable were soon very intimate, and that they saw each other every day. Indeed, before long they would have been living together in the same house had it not been that the squire had felt reluctant to abandon the independence of his own lodgings. When Mrs Thorne had pressed her invitation for the second, and then for the third time, asking them both to come to her large house, he had begged his niece to go and leave him alone. 'You need not regard me,' he had said, speaking not with the whining voice of complaint, but with that thin tinge of melancholy which was usual to him. 'I am so much alone down in Allington, that you need not mind leaving me.' but Lily would not go on those terms, and therefore they still lived together in the lodgings. Nevertheless Lily was every day at Mrs Thorne's house, and thus a great intimacy grew up between the girls.

Emily Dunstable had neither brother nor sister, and Lily's nearest male relative in her own degree was now Miss Dunstable's betrothed husband.

It was natural therefore that they should at any rate try to like each other. It afterwards came to pass that Lily did go to Mrs Thorne's house, and she stayed there for a while; but when that occurred the squire had gone back to Allington.

Among other generous kindnesses Mrs Thorne insisted that Bernard should hire a horse for his cousin Lily. Emily Dunstable rode daily, and of course Captain Dale rode with her;--and now Lily joined the party.

Almost before she knew what was being done she found herself provided with hat and habit and horse and whip. It was a way with Mrs Thorne that they who came within the influence of her immediate sphere should be made to feel that the comforts and luxuries arising from her wealth belonged to a common stock, and were the joint property of them all.

Things were not offered and taken and talked about, but they made their appearance, and were used as a matter of course. If you go to stay at a gentleman's house you understand that, as a matter of course, you will be provided with meat and drink. Some hosts furnish you also with cigars. A small number give you stabling and forage for you horse; and a very select few mount you on hunting days, and send you out with a groom and a second horse. Mrs Thorne went beyond all others in this open-handed hospitality. She had enormous wealth at her command, and had but few of those all-absorbing drains upon her wealth which in this country make so many rich men poor. She had no family property--no place to keep up in which she did not live. She had no retainers to be maintained because they were retainers. She had neither sons nor daughters. Consequently she was able to be lavish in her generosity; and as her heart was very lavish, she would have given her friends gold to eat had gold been good for eating. Indeed there was no measure in her giving--unless when the idea came upon her that the recipient of her favours was trading on them. Then she could hold her hand very stoutly.

Lily Dale had not liked the idea of being fitted out thus expensively.

A box at the opera was all very well, as it was not procured especially for her. And tickets for other theatres did not seem to come unnaturally for a night or two. But her spirit had militated against the hat and the habit and the horse. The whip was a little present from Emily Dunstable, and that of course was accepted with a good grace. Then there came the horse --as though from the heavens; there seemed to be ten horses, twenty horses, if anybody needed them. All these things seemed to flow naturally into Mrs Thorne's establishment, like air through the windows.

It was very pleasant, but Lily hesitated when she was told that a habit was to be given to her. 'My dear old aunt insists,' said Emily Dunstable. 'Nobody ever thinks of refusing anything from her. If you only knew what some people will take, and some people will even ask, who have nothing to do with her at all!' 'But I have nothing to do with her--in that way I mean,' said Lily. 'Oh, yes, you have,' said Emily.

'You and Bernard are as good as brother and sister, and Bernard are as good as man and wife, and my aunt and I are as good as mother and daughter. So you see, in a sort of way you are a child of the house.' So Lily accepted the habit; but made a stand at the hat, and paid for that out of her own pocket. When the squire had seen Lily on horseback he asked her questions about it. 'It was a hired horse, I suppose?' he said. 'I think it came direct from heaven,' said Lily. 'What do you mean, Lily?' said the squire angrily. 'I mean that when people are so rich and good-natured as Mrs Thorne it is not good inquiring where things come from. All that I know is that the horses come out of Potts' livery-stable. They talk of Potts as if he were a good-natured man who provides horses for the world without troubling anybody.' Then the squire spoke to Bernard about it, saying that he would insist on defraying his niece's expenses. But Bernard swore that he should give his uncle no assistance. 'I would not speak to her about such a thing for all the world,' said Bernard. 'Then I shall,' said the squire.