4. THE TWELFTH OF FEBRUARY
Knapwater Park is the picture--at eleven o'clock on a muddy, quiet, hazy, but bright morning--a morning without any blue sky, and without any shadows, the earth being enlivened and lit up rather by the spirit of an invisible sun than by its bodily presence.
The local Hunt had met for the day's sport on the open space of
ground immediately in front of the steward's residence--called in
the list of appointments, 'Old House, Knapwater'--the meet being
here once every season, for the pleasure of Miss Aldclyffe and her
friends.
Leaning out from one of the first-floor windows, and surveying with
the keenest interest the lively picture of pink and black coats, rich-coloured horses, and sparkling bits and spurs, was the returned and long-lost woman, Mrs. Manston.
The eyes of those forming the brilliant group were occasionally
turned towards her, showing plainly that her adventures were the
subject of conversation equally with or more than the chances of the
coming day. She did not flush beneath their scrutiny; on the
contrary, she seemed rather to enjoy it, her eyes being kindled with
a light of contented exultation, subdued to square with the
circumstances of her matronly position.
She was, at the distance from which they surveyed her, an attractive
woman--comely as the tents of Kedar. But to a close observer it was
palpable enough that God did not do all the picture. Appearing at
least seven years older than Cytherea, she was probably her senior
by double the number, the artificial means employed to heighten the
natural good appearance of her face being very cleverly applied. Her form was full and round, its voluptuous maturity standing out in strong contrast to the memory of Cytherea's lissom girlishness.
It seems to be an almost universal rule that a woman who once has
courted, or who eventually will court, the society of men on terms
dangerous to her honour cannot refrain from flinging the meaning
glance whenever the moment arrives in which the glance is strongly
asked for, even if her life and whole future depended upon that
moment's abstinence.
Had a cautious, uxorious husband seen in his wife's countenance what
might now have been seen in this dark-eyed woman's as she caught a
stray glance of flirtation from one or other of the red-coated
gallants outside, he would have passed many days in an agony of
restless jealousy and doubt. But Manston was not such a husband, and he was, moreover, calmly attending to his business at the other end of the manor.
The steward had fetched home his wife in the most matter-of-fact way
a few days earlier, walking round the village with her the very next
morning--at once putting an end, by this simple solution, to all the
riddling inquiries and surmises that were rank in the village and
its neighbourhood. Some men said that this woman was as far
inferior to Cytherea as earth to heaven; others, older and sager, thought Manston better off with such a wife than he would have been with one of Cytherea's youthful impulses, and inexperience in household management. All felt their curiosity dying out of them. It was the same in Carriford as in other parts of the world --immediately circumstantial evidence became exchanged for direct, the loungers in court yawned, gave a final survey, and turned away to a subject which would afford more scope for speculation.