Dressed in Black

Chapter 21

Catherine would not be brought around to leave her room the next day. Her heart was divided with bitterness and tenderness. She felt compelled to show fight, but her tender side had more decided influence on her mind, and prompted her to consider forgiving Albert for his unusual display of pride and coolness. If he but showed kindness to her, then she would be all too ready to forgive him without another moment's delay, even in spite of his desultorily sharp innuendos. But she would not be so hasty in her decisions. She would dedicate that day to solitude and meditation. Consequently, she went down to the drawing-room, whence she was sure to find solitude and a suitable pastime, for she knew her guardian and his niece to be visiting Mr. Edwin Northam.

Upon reaching the drawing-room, Catherine sat down at the piano, and began one of her old melancholy tunes. The soft, tranquil song would soothe her uneasy spirits and troubled thoughts back into their customary composure, and she thought it a better remedy than anything else she could think of. After playing two songs very much in the same style, she thought it best to take a walk in the garden, for there was a lovely footpath which she could follow without getting lost in the wild foliage. She had been out of doors not ten minutes when a hurried footman came to her with a suggestion of her attendance in the parlour, as a certain gentleman by the name of Musgrave was asking to see her.

She received this news with some surprise but even more expectation, for though she had been rather abstracted all of the day, she knew her brother-in-law to be too feeling to overlook his wrongs. He had not been like himself since their first meeting, and she was ready to forgive him. She saw him in the parlour, but found him to be accompanied – indeed, a smaller, and perhaps brighter Musgrave stood at his side, with a great beaming smile spread across his face.

"Philip!" she cried as she realised who this little gentleman was, for he had grown a good four inches since their last meeting. He was a fine boy of nine years. He did not run into her arms as was his wont, but met her with a warm shake of the hand, as his school had stripped him of his boyish forwardness.

"As you may see for yourself, Philip is too old now for friendly embraces," commented his father, looking upon him with affection and a hint of playfulness. "But he is a fine fellow, for all that. He knows what he is about."

"Just like his father," said Catherine, unsure whether to lavish more smiles on the father or the son. "Philip," she said, stooping a little to his level, though not too much, so as not to wound his newfound pride. "When did you join your father at the Red Elk? I daresay it was not long ago, for he spoke not a word of your coming to us the night he dined here."

"He came just but this morning," said Albert, smiling his rare smile of gentle warmth. "With a good deal more of the schoolboy mind-set than before. However, I managed to shake some sense into him before we came. I would not have his aunt seeing how proud he had become."

"You mistake my judgement, sir," said she, smiling. "I do not object to pride, as long as it is kept within bounds. If a person cannot set boundaries to one's own pride, then it is sure to cause him as well as others harm – but a pride well governed must certainly be harmless."

"My papa is a very proud man," said Philip, provokingly. "Sometimes revoltingly proud. I do believe, Aunty Cathy, that I take after him."

"Then I shall like you all the better for it," said Catherine, disappointing him in not contributing to the teasing of his father. "Because there is not one quality in your father which I do not dislike."

"Do you deign to call me faultless, Catherine?" said Albert, lifting his pale brows with diffident surprise.

"No – I have simply taught myself to pay no heed to your flaws," she said with an indulgent smile.