Publisher's Synopsis
At ten o'clock the next morning Norah and Magdalen stood alone in the hall at Combe-Ravenwatching the departure of the carriage which took their father and mother to the London train.Up to the last moment, both the sisters had hoped for some explanation of that mysterious"family business" to which Mrs. Vanstone had so briefly alluded on the previous day. No suchexplanation had been offered. Even the agitation of the leave-taking, under circumstances entirelynew in the home experience of the parents and children, had not shaken the resolute discretion ofMr. and Mrs. Vanstone. They had gone-with the warmest testimonies of affection, with farewellembraces fervently reiterated again and again-but without dropping one word, from first to last, ofthe nature of their errand.As the grating sound of the carriage-wheels ceased suddenly at a turn in the road, the sisterslooked one another in the face; each feeling, and each betraying in her own way, the dreary sensethat she was openly excluded, for the first time, from the confidence of her parents. Norah'scustomary reserve strengthened into sullen silence-she sat down in one of the hall chairs andlooked out frowningly through the open house door. Magdalen, as usual when her temper wasruffled, expressed her dissatisfaction in the plainest terms. "I don't care who knows it-I think weare both of us shamefully ill-used!" With those words, the young lady followed her sister's exampleby seating herself on a hall chair and looking aimlessly out through the open house door.Almost at the same moment Miss Garth entered the hall from the morning-room. Her quickobservation showed her the necessity for interfering to some practical purpose; and her ready goodsense at once pointed the way."Look up, both of you, if you please, and listen to me," said Miss Garth. "If we are all three to becomfortable and happy together, now we are alone, we must stick to our usual habits and go on inour regular way. There is the state of things in plain words. Accept the situation-as the French say.Here am I to set you the example. I have just ordered an excellent dinner at the customary hour. Iam going to the medicine-chest next, to physic the kitchen-maid-an unwholesome girl, whose faceache is all stomach. In the meantime, Norah, my dear, you will find your work and your books, asusual, in the library. Magdalen, suppose you leave off tying your handkerchief into knots and useyour fingers on the keys of the piano instead? We'll lunch at one, and take the dogs out afterward.Be as brisk and cheerful both of you as I am. Come, rouse up directly. If I see those gloomy facesany longer, as sure as my name's Garth, I'll give your mother written warning and go back to myfriends by the mixed train at twelve forty."
