Framley Parsonage Anthony Trollope (best english novels for beginners .TXT) đ
- Author: Anthony Trollope
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âDear Lady Lufton!â said Griselda, putting up her hand so as to press the end of her ladyshipâs fingers. It was the first piece of animation she had shown, and Lucy Robarts watched it all.
And then there was music. Lucy neither played nor sang; Fanny did both, and for an amateur did both well. Griselda did not sing, but she played; and did so in a manner that showed that neither her own labour nor her fatherâs money had been spared in her instruction. Lord Lufton sang also, a little, and Captain Culpepper a very little; so that they got up a concert among them. In the meantime the doctor and Mark stood talking together on the rug before the fire; the two mothers sat contented, watching the billings and the cooings of their offspringâ âand Lucy sat alone, turning over the leaves of a book of pictures. She made up her mind fully, then and there, that she was quite unfitted by disposition for such work as this. She cared for no one, and no one cared for her. Well, she must go through with it now; but another time she would know better. With her own book and a fireside she never felt herself to be miserable as she was now.
She had turned her back to the music, for she was sick of seeing Lord Lufton watch the artistic motion of Miss Grantlyâs fingers, and was sitting at a small table as far away from the piano as a long room would permit, when she was suddenly roused from a reverie of self-reproach by a voice close behind her: âMiss Robarts,â said the voice, âwhy have you cut us all?â and Lucy felt that though she heard the words plainly, nobody else did. Lord Lufton was now speaking to her as he had before spoken to Miss Grantly.
âI donât play, my lord,â said Lucy, ânor yet sing.â
âThat would have made your company so much more valuable to us, for we are terribly badly off for listeners. Perhaps you donât like music?â
âI do like itâ âsometimes very much.â
âAnd when are the sometimes? But we shall find it all out in time. We shall have unravelled all your mysteries, and read all your riddles, byâ âwhen shall I say?â âby the end of the winter. Shall we not?â
âI do not know that I have got any mysteries.â
âOh, but you have! It is very mysterious in you to come and sit here, with your back to us allâ ââ
âOh, Lord Lufton; if I have done wrongâ â!â and poor Lucy almost started from her chair, and a deep flush came across her dark cheek.
âNoâ âno; you have done no wrong. I was only joking. It is we who have done wrong in leaving you to yourselfâ âyou who are the greatest stranger among us.â
âI have been very well, thank you. I donât care about being left alone. I have always been used to it.â
âAh! but we must break you of the habit. We wonât allow you to make a hermit of yourself. But the truth is, Miss Robarts, you donât know us yet, and therefore you are not quite happy among us.â
âOh! yes, I am; you are all very good to me.â
âYou must let us be good to you. At any rate, you must let me be so. You know, donât you, that Mark and I have been dear friends since we were seven years old. His wife has been my sisterâs dearest friend almost as long; and now that you are with them, you must be a dear friend too. You wonât refuse the offer; will you?â
âOh, no,â she said, quite in a whisper; and, indeed, she could hardly raise her voice above a whisper, fearing that tears would fall from her telltale eyes.
âDr. and Mrs. Grantly will have gone in a couple of days, and then we must get you down here. Miss Grantly is to remain for Christmas, and you two must become bosom friends.â
Lucy smiled, and tried to look pleased, but she felt that she and Griselda Grantly could never be bosom friendsâ âcould never have anything in common between them. She felt sure that Griselda despised her, little, brown, plain, and unimportant as she was. She herself could not despise Griselda in turn; indeed she could not but admire Miss Grantlyâs great beauty and dignity of demeanour; but she knew that she could never love her. It is hardly possible that the proud-hearted should love those who despise them; and Lucy Robarts was very proud-hearted.
âDonât you think she is very handsome?â said Lord Lufton.
âOh, very,â said Lucy. âNobody can doubt that.â
âLudovic,â said Lady Luftonâ ânot quite approving of her sonâs remaining so long at the back of Lucyâs chairâ ââwonât you give us another song? Mrs. Robarts and Miss Grantly are still at the piano.â
âI have sung away all that I knew, mother. Thereâs Culpepper has not had a chance yet. He has got to give us his dreamâ âhow he âdreamt that he dwelt in marble halls!âââ
âI sang that an hour ago,â said the captain, not over pleased.
âBut you certainly have not told us how âyour little lovers came!âââ
The captain, however, would not sing any more. And then the party was broken up, and the Robartses went home to their parsonage.
XII The Little BillLucy, during those last fifteen minutes of her sojourn in the Framley Court drawing-room, somewhat modified the very strong opinion she had before formed as to her unfitness for such society. It was very pleasant sitting there in that easy chair, while Lord Lufton stood at the back of it saying nice, soft, good-natured words to her. She was sure that in a little time she could feel a true friendship for him, and that she could do so without any risk of falling in love with him. But then she had a glimmering of an idea that such a friendship
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