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The Shuttle Chapter 11 I Thought You Had All Forgotten · The Frances Hodgson Burnett Library

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  Speaker 1: CHAPTER XI. I THOUGHT YOU HAD ALL FORGOTTEN As, after
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  Speaker 1: a singular half-hour spent among the bracken under the trees,
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  Speaker 1: they began their return to the house, Bettina felt that
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  Speaker 1: her sense of adventure had altered its character. She was
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  Speaker 1: still in the midst of a remarkable sort of exploit,
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  Speaker 1: which might end anywhere or in anything. but it had
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  Speaker 1: become at once more prosaic in detail and more intense
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  Speaker 1: in its significance. What its significance might prove likely to
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  Speaker 1: be when she faced it she had not known it
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  Speaker 1: is true, but this was different from anything. As they
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  Speaker 1: walked up the sun-dabbled avenue she kept glancing aside at
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  Speaker 1: Rosie and endeavouring to draw useful conclusions. The poor girl's
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  Speaker 1: air of being a plain insignificant frump long past youth
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  Speaker 1: struck an extraordinary and for the time unexplainable note. Her ill-cut,
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  Speaker 1: out-of-date dress, the cheap suit of the hunchbacked boy who
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  Speaker 1: limped patiently along, helped by his crutch, suggested possible explanations
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  Speaker 1: which were without doubt connected with the thought which had
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  Speaker 1: risen in Bettina's mind as she had driven through the
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  Speaker 1: broken-hinged entrance-gate. What extraordinary disposal was being made of Rosie's money!
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  Speaker 1: But her each glance at her sister also suggested complication
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  Speaker 1: upon complication. the singular half-hour under the trees by the pool, spent,
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  Speaker 1: after the first hysteric moments were over, in vague exclaimings
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  Speaker 1: and questions, which seemed half-frightened and all at sea, had
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  Speaker 1: gradually shown her that she was talking to a creature
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  Speaker 1: wholly other than the Rosalie, who had so well known
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  Speaker 1: and loved them all, and whom they had so well
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  Speaker 1: loved and known. They did not know this one, and
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  Speaker 1: she did not know them. She was even a little
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  Speaker 1: afraid of the stir and movement of their life and being.
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  Speaker 1: The Rosie they had known seemed to be imprisoned within
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  Speaker 1: the wall the years of her separated life had built
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  Speaker 1: about her. At each breath she drew, Bettina saw how
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  Speaker 1: long the years had been to her, and how far
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  Speaker 1: her home had seemed to lie away, so far that
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  Speaker 1: it could not touch her, and was only a sort
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  Speaker 1: of dream, the recalling of which made her suddenly begin
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  Speaker 1: to cry again every few minutes. To Bettina's sensitively alert
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  Speaker 1: mind it was plain that it would not do in
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  Speaker 1: the least, to drag her suddenly out of her prison
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  Speaker 1: or cloister, whichsoever it might be. To do so would
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  Speaker 1: be like forcing a creature accustomed only to darkness to
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  Speaker 1: stare at the blazing sun. To have burst upon her
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  Speaker 1: with the old impetuous candid fondness would have been to
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  Speaker 1: frighten and shock her as if with something bordering on indecency.
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  Speaker 1: She could not have stood it. Perhaps such fondness was
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  Speaker 1: so remote from her in these days that she had
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  Speaker 1: even ceased to be able to understand it.' Where are
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  Speaker 1: your little girls?' Bettina asked, remembering that there had been
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  Speaker 1: notice given of the advent of two girl babies.' They died,'
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  Speaker 1: Lady Anstruthers answered unemotionally.' They both died before they were
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  Speaker 1: a year old. There is only Uhtred.' Betty glanced at
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  Speaker 1: the boy and saw a small flame of red creep
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  Speaker 1: up on his cheek. Instinctively she knew what it meant,
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  Speaker 1: and she put out her hand and lightly touched his shoulder.'
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  Speaker 1: I hope you'll like me, Uhtred,' she said. He almost
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  Speaker 1: started at the sound of her voice, but when he
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  Speaker 1: turned his face towards her he only grew redder, and
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  Speaker 1: looked awkward without answering. His manner was that of a
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  Speaker 1: boy who was unused to the amenities of polite society,
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  Speaker 1: and who was only made shy by them. Without warning,
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  Speaker 1: a moment or so later, Bettina stopped in the middle
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  Speaker 1: of the avenue, and looked up at the arching giant
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  Speaker 1: branches of the trees which had reached out from one
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  Speaker 1: side to the other, as if to clasp hands or
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  Speaker 1: encompass an interlacing embrace. As far as the eye reached
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  Speaker 1: they did this, and the beholder stood as in a
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  Speaker 1: high stately pergola, with breaks of deep azure sky between.
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  Speaker 1: Several mellow, cawing rooks were floating solemnly beneath or above
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  Speaker 1: the branches, now and then settling in some highest one,
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  Speaker 1: or disappearing in the thick greenness. Lady Anstruther stopped when
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  Speaker 1: her sister did so, and glanced at her in vague inquiry.
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  Speaker 1: It was plain that she had outlived even her sense
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  Speaker 1: of the beauty surrounding her.' What are you looking at, Betty?'
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  Speaker 1: she asked. At all of it, Betty answered, it is
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  Speaker 1: so wonderful. She likes it, said Uhtred, and then rather
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  Speaker 1: slunk a step behind his mother as if he were
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  Speaker 1: ashamed of himself. The house is just beyond those trees,
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  Speaker 1: said Lady Anstruthers. They came in full view of it
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  Speaker 1: three minutes later. When she saw it, Betty uttered an
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  Speaker 1: exclamation and stopped again to enjoy effects. She likes that too,
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  Speaker 1: said Uhtred. and although he said it sheepishly, there was,
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  Speaker 1: imperfectly concealed beneath the awkwardness, a pleasure in the fact.'
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  Speaker 1: Do you?' asked Rosalie, with her small, painful smile. Betty laughed.'
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  Speaker 1: It is too picturesque in its special way to be
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  Speaker 1: quite credible,' she said.' I thought that when I first
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  Speaker 1: saw it,' said Rosie.' Don' t you think so now?'' Well,'
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  Speaker 1: was the rather uncertain reply,' as Nigel says, there's not
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  Speaker 1: much good in a place that's falling to pieces.'' Why
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  Speaker 1: let it fall to pieces?' Betty put it to her
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  Speaker 1: with impartial promptness.' We haven't money enough to hold it together,' resignedly.
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  Speaker 1: As they climbed the low, broad, lichen-blotched steps whose broken
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  Speaker 1: stone balustrades were almost hidden in clutching, untrimmed ivy, Betty
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  Speaker 1: felt them to be almost incredible too. The uneven stones
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  Speaker 1: of the terrace the steps mounted to were lichen-blotched and
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  Speaker 1: broken also. Tufts of green growths had forced themselves between
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  Speaker 1: the flags and added an untidy beauty.' the ivy tossed
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  Speaker 1: in branches over the red roof and walls of the house.
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  Speaker 1: It had been left unclipped until it was rather an
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  Speaker 1: endlessly clambering tree than a creeper. The hall they entered
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  Speaker 1: had the beauty of spacious form and good old oaken panelling.
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  Speaker 1: There were deep window-seats and an ancient high-backed settle or so,
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  Speaker 1: and a massive table by the fireless hearth. But there
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  Speaker 1: were no pictures in places where pictures had evidently once hung,
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  Speaker 1: and the only coverings on the stone floor were the
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  Speaker 1: faded remnants of a central rug and a worn tiger-skin,
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  Speaker 1: the head almost bald, and a glass eye knocked out.
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  Speaker 1: Bettina took in the unpromising details without a quiver of
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  Speaker 1: the extravagant lashes. These, indeed, and the eyes pertaining to them,
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  Speaker 1: seemed rather to sweep the fine roof and a certain
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  Speaker 1: minstrel's gallery and staircase than which nothing could have been
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  Speaker 1: much finer, with the look of an appreciative admirer of
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  Speaker 1: architectural features and old oak. She had not journeyed to
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  Speaker 1: Stornham Court with the intention of disturbing Rosie, or of
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  Speaker 1: being herself obviously disturbed. She had come to observe situations
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  Speaker 1: and rearrange them with that intelligence of which unconsidered emotion
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  Speaker 1: or exclamation form no part.' It is the first old
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  Speaker 1: English house I've seen,' she said with a sigh of pleasure.'
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  Speaker 1: I' m so glad, Rosie, I'm so glad that it's yours.'
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  Speaker 1: She put a hand on each of Rosie's thin shoulders,
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  Speaker 1: she felt sharply defined bones as she did so, and
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  Speaker 1: bent to kiss her. It was the natural affectionate expression
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  Speaker 1: of her feeling, but tears started to Rosie's eyes, and
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  Speaker 1: the boy Uhtred, who had sat down on a window seat,
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  Speaker 1: turned red again and shifted in his place.' Oh, Betty!'
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  Speaker 1: was Rose's faint nervous exclamation.' You seem so beautiful and so,
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  Speaker 1: so strange that you frighten me.' Betty laughed with the
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  Speaker 1: softest possible cheerfulness, shaking her a little.' I shall not
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  Speaker 1: seem strange long,' she said,' after I have stayed with
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  Speaker 1: you a few weeks, if you will let me stay
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  Speaker 1: with you.'' Let you? Let you?' in a sort of gasp.
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  Speaker 1: Poor little Lady Anstruthers sank on to a settle and
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  Speaker 1: began to cry again. It was plain that she always
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  Speaker 1: cried when things occurred. Uhtred's speech from his window-seat testified
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  Speaker 1: at once to that.' Don' t cry, Mother,' he said. You
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  Speaker 1: know how we've talked that over together. It's her nerves,
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  Speaker 1: he explained to Bettina. We know it only makes things worse,
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  Speaker 1: but she can't stop it. Bettina sat on the settle, too.
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  Speaker 1: She herself was not then aware of the wonderful feeling
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  Speaker 1: the poor little spare figure experienced as her softly strong
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  Speaker 1: young arms curved about it. She was only aware that
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  Speaker 1: she herself felt that this was a heart-breaking thing, and
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  Speaker 1: that she must not, must not let it be seen
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  Speaker 1: how much she recognised its woefulness. This was pretty fair Rosie.
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  Speaker 1: who had never done a harm in her happy life.
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  Speaker 1: This forlorn thing was her Rosie.' Never mind,' she said,
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  Speaker 1: half laughing again.' I rather want to cry myself, and
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  Speaker 1: I'm stronger than she is. I am immensely strong.'' Yes, yes,'
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  Speaker 1: said Lady Anstruthers, wiping her eyes, and making a tremendous
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  Speaker 1: effort at self-respecting composure.' You are strong. I have grown
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  Speaker 1: so weak in— well, in every way. Betty, I'm afraid this
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  Speaker 1: is a poor welcome.'' You see, I'm afraid you'll find
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  Speaker 1: it all so different from— from New York.'' I wanted to
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  Speaker 1: find it different,' said Betty.' But— but, I mean, you know—'
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  Speaker 1: Lady Anstruthers turned helplessly to the boy. Bettina was struck
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  Speaker 1: with the painful truth that she looked even sillier as
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  Speaker 1: she turned to him.' Utrid, tell her,' she ended, and
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  Speaker 1: hung her head. Utrid had got down at once from
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  Speaker 1: his seat and limped forward. His unprepossessing face looked as
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  Speaker 1: if he pulled his childishness together with an unchildish effort.'
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  Speaker 1: She means,' he said in his awkward way,' that she
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  Speaker 1: doesn't know how to make you comfortable. The rooms are
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  Speaker 1: all so shabby, everything is so shabby. Perhaps you won't
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  Speaker 1: stay when you see.' Bettina perceptibly increased the firmness of
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  Speaker 1: her hold on her sister's body. It was as if
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  Speaker 1: she drew it nearer to her side in a kind
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  Speaker 1: of taking possession. She knew that the moment had come
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  Speaker 1: when she might go this far at least without expressing
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  Speaker 1: alarming things.' You cannot show me anything that will frighten me,'
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  Speaker 1: was the answer she made.' I have come to stay, Rosie.
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  Speaker 1: We can make things right if they require it. Why not?'
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  Speaker 1: Lady Anstruthers started a little, and stared at her. She
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  Speaker 1: knew ten thousand reasons why things had not been made right,
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  Speaker 1: and the casual inference that such reasons could be lightly
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  Speaker 1: swept away as if by the mere wave of a hand,
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  Speaker 1: implied a power appertaining to a time seeming so lost
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  Speaker 1: for ever that it was too much for her oh
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  Speaker 1: betty betty she cried you talk as if you-you are
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  Speaker 1: so the fact so simple to the members of the
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  Speaker 1: abnormal class to which she of a truth belonged the
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  Speaker 1: class which heaped up its millions the absolute knowledge that
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  Speaker 1: there was a great deal of money in the world
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  Speaker 1: and that she was of those who were among its
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  Speaker 1: chief owners had ceased to seem a fact and had
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  Speaker 1: vanished into the region of fairy stories that she could
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  Speaker 1: not believe it a reality, revealed itself to Bettina as
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  Speaker 1: by a flash, which was also a revelation of many things.
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  Speaker 1: There would be unpleasing truths to be learned, and she
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  Speaker 1: had not made her pilgrimage for nothing. But in any
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  Speaker 1: event there were advantages without doubt in the circumstance which
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  Speaker 1: subjected one to being perpetually pointed out as the daughter
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  Speaker 1: of a multimillionaire. As this argued itself out for her
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  Speaker 1: with rapid lucidity, she bent and kissed Rosie once more,
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  Speaker 1: She even tried to do it lightly, and not to
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  Speaker 1: allow the rush of love and pity in her soul
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  Speaker 1: to betray her.' I talk as if I were Betty,'
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  Speaker 1: she said.' You have forgotten, I have not.' I have
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  Speaker 1: been looking forward to this for years.' I have been
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  Speaker 1: planning to come to you since I was eleven years old.'
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  Speaker 1: And here we sit.'' You didn't forget, you didn't,' faltered
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  Speaker 1: the poor wreck of Rosie.' Oh, I thought you'd all
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  Speaker 1: forgotten me, quite, quite.' and her face went down in
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  Speaker 1: her spare small hands, and she began to cry again.
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  Speaker 1: End of chapter 11