Her father was well,and apparently content.Miss Monro was very kind.Dixon's lameness was quite gone off.Only Mr.Dunster came creeping about the house,on pretence of business,seeking out her father,and disturbing all his leisure with his dust-coloured parchment-skinned careworn face,and seeming to disturb the smooth current of her daily life whenever she saw him.
Ellinor made her appearance at the Hamley assemblies,but with less eclat than either her father or her lover expected.Her beauty and natural grace were admired by those who could discriminate;but to the greater number there was (what they called)"a want of style"--want of elegance there certainly was not,for her figure was perfect,and though she moved shyly,she moved well.Perhaps it was not a good place for a correct appreciation of Miss Wilkins;some of the old dowagers thought it a piece of presumption in her to be there at all--but the Lady Holster of the day (who remembered her husband's quarrel with Mr.Wilkins,and looked away whenever Ellinor came near)resented this opinion."Miss Wilkins is descended from Sir Frank's family,one of the oldest in the county;the objection might have been made years ago to the father,but as he had been received,she did not know why Miss Wilkins was to be alluded to as out of her place."Ellinor's greatest enjoyment in the evening was to hear her father say,after all was over,and they were driving home -"Well,I thought my Nelly the prettiest girl there,and I think Iknow some other people who would have said the same if they could have spoken out.""Thank you,papa,"said Ellinor,squeezing his hand,which she held.
She thought he alluded to the absent Ralph as the person who would have agreed with him,had he had the opportunity of seeing her;but no,he seldom thought much of the absent;but had been rather flattered by seeing Lord Hildebrand take up his glass for the apparent purpose of watching Ellinor.
"Your pearls,too,were as handsome as any in the room,child--but we must have them re-set;the sprays are old-fashioned now.Let me have them to-morrow to send up to Hancock.""Papa,please,I had rather keep them as they are--as mamma wore them."He was touched in a minute.
"Very well,darling.God bless you for thinking of it!"But he ordered her a set of sapphires instead,for the next assembly.
These balls were not such as to intoxicate Ellinor with success,and make her in love with gaiety.Large parties came from the different country-houses in the neighbourhood,and danced with each other.
When they had exhausted the resources they brought with them,they had generally a few dances to spare for friends of the same standing with whom they were most intimate.Ellinor came with her father,and joined an old card-playing dowager,by way of a chaperone--the said dowager being under old business obligations to the firm of Wilkins and Son,and apologizing to all her acquaintances for her own weak condescension to Mr.Wilkins's foible in wishing to introduce his daughter into society above her natural sphere.It was upon this lady,after she had uttered some such speech as the one I have just mentioned,that Lady Holster had come down with the pedigree of Ellinor's mother.But though the old dowager had drawn back a little discomfited at my lady's reply,she was not more attentive to Ellinor in consequence.She allowed Mr.Wilkins to bring in his daughter and place her on the crimson sofa beside her;spoke to her occasionally in the interval that elapsed before the rubbers could be properly arranged in the card-room;invited the girl to accompany her to that sober amusement,and on Ellinor's declining,and preferring to remain with her father,the dowager left her with a sweet smile on her plump countenance,and an approving conscience somewhere within her portly frame,assuring her that she had done all that could possibly have been expected from her towards "that good Wilkins's daughter."Ellinor stood by her father watching the dances,and thankful for the occasional chance of a dance.While she had been sitting by her chaperone,Mr.Wilkins had made the tour of the room,dropping out the little fact of his daughter's being present wherever he thought the seed likely to bring forth the fruit of partners.And some came because they liked Mr.Wilkins,and some asked Ellinor because they had done their duty dances to their own party,and might please themselves.So that she usually had an average of one invitation to every three dances;and this principally towards the end of the evening.
But considering her real beauty,and the care which her father always took about her appearance,she met with far less than her due of admiration.Admiration she did not care for;partners she did;and sometimes felt mortified when she had to sit or stand quiet during all the first part of the evening.If it had not been for her father's wishes she would much rather have stayed at home;but,nevertheless,she talked even to the irresponsive old dowager,and fairly chatted to her father when she got beside him,because she did not like him to fancy that she was not enjoying herself.
And,indeed,she had so much happiness in the daily course of this part of her life,that,on looking back upon it afterwards,she could not imagine anything brighter than it had been.The delight of receiving her lover's letters--the anxious happiness of replying to them (always a little bit fearful lest she should not express herself and her love in the precisely happy medium becoming a maiden)--the father's love and satisfaction in her--the calm prosperity of the whole household--was delightful at the time,and,looking back upon it,it was dreamlike.