A Lost Lady (Chap. 1.5) lyrics

Niel went up the hill the next afternoon, just as the cutter with the two black ponies jingled round the driveway and stopped at the front door. Mrs. Forrester came out on the porch, dressed for a sleigh ride. Ellinger followed her, buttoned up in a long fur-lined coat, showily befrogged down the front, with a glossy astrachan collar. He looked even more powerful and bursting with vigour than last night. His highly-coloured, well-visored countenance shone with a good opinion of himself and of the world.

Mrs. Forrester called to Niel gaily. “We are going down to the Sweet Water to cut cedar boughs for Christmas. Will you keep Constance company? She seems a trifle disappointed at being left behind, but we can’t take the big sleigh, — the pole is broken. Be nice to her, there’s a good boy!” She pressed his hand, gave him a meaning, confidential smile, and stepped into the sleigh. Ellinger sprang in beside her, and they glided down the hill with a merry tinkle of sleighbells.

Niel found Miss Ogden in the back parlour, playing solitaire by the fire. She was clearly out of humour.

“Come in, Mr. Herbert. I think they might have taken us along, don’t you? I want to see the river my own self. I hate bein’ shut up in the house!”

“Let’s go out, then. Wouldn’t you like to see the town?”

Constance seemed not to hear him. She was wrinkling and unwrinkling her short nose, and the restless lines about her mouth were fluttering.

“What’s to hinder us from getting a sleigh at the livery barn and going down to the Sweet Water? I don’t suppose the river’s private property?” She gave a nervous, angry laugh and looked hopefully at Niel.

“We couldn’t get anything at this hour. The livery teams are all out,” he said with firmness.

Constance glanced at him suspiciously, then sat down at the card table and leaned over it, drawing her plump shoulders together. Her fluffy yellow hair was wound round her head like a scarf and held in place by narrow bands of black velvet.

The ponies had crossed the second creek and were trotting down the high road toward the river. Mrs. Forrester expressed her feelings in a laugh full of mischief. “Is she running after us? Where did she get the idea that she was to come? What a relief to get away!” She lifted her chin and sniffed the air. The day was grey, without sun, and the air was still and dry, a warm cold. “Poor Mr. Ogden,” she went on, “how much livelier he is without his ladies! They almost extinguish him. Now aren’t you glad you never married?”

“I’m certainly glad I never married a homely woman. What does a man do it for, anyway? She had no money, — and he’s always had it, or been on the way to it.”

“Well, they’re off tomorrow. And Connie! You’ve reduced her to a state of imbecility, really! What an afternoon Niel must be having!” She laughed as if the idea of his predicament delighted her.

“Who’s this kid, anyway?” Ellinger asked her to take the reins for a moment while he drew a cigar from his pocket. “He’s a trifle stiff. Does he make himself useful?”