Emily entreated him to restrain himself,by a look.Mrs.Rook was still too inveterately amiable to take offense.She opened her traveling-bag briskly,and placed a railway guide in Alban's hands.
"I've heard that the women do the men's work in foreign parts,"she said."But this is England;and I am an Englishwoman.Find out when the train goes,my dear sir,for yourself."Alban at once consulted the guide.If there proved to be no immediate need of starting for the station,he was determined that Emily should not be condemned to pass the interval in the housekeeper's company.In the meantime,Mrs.Rook was as eager as ever to show her dear young lady what an amusing companion she could be.
"Talking of husbands,"she resumed,"don't make the mistake,my dear,that I committed.Beware of letting anybody persuade you to marry an old man.Mr.Rook is old enough to be my father.I bear with him.Of course,I bear with him.At the same time,I have not (as the poet says)'passed through the ordeal unscathed.'My spirit--I have long since ceased to believe in anything of the sort:I only use the word for want of a better--my spirit,I say,has become embittered.I was once a pious young woman;I do assure you I was nearly as good as my name.Don't let me shock you;I have lost faith and hope;I have become--what's the last new name for a free-thinker?Oh,I keep up with the times,thanks to old Miss Redwood!She takes in the newspapers,and makes me read them to her.What isthe new name?Something ending in ic.
Bombastic?No,Agnostic?--that's it!I have become an Agnostic.
The inevitable result of marrying an old man;if there's any blame it rests on my husband.""There's more than an hour yet before the train starts,"Alban interposed."I am sure,Miss Emily,you would find it pleasanter to wait in the garden.""Not at all a bad notion,"Mrs.Rook declared."Here's a man who can make himself useful,for once.Let's go into the garden."She rose,and led the way to the door.Alban seized the opportunity of whispering to Emily.
"Did you notice the empty decanter,when we first came in?That horrid woman is drunk."Emily pointed significantly to the locket."Don't let her go.The garden will distract her attention:keep her near me here."Mrs.Rook gayly opened the door."Take me to the flower-beds,"she said."I believe in nothing--but I adore flowers."Mrs.Rook waited at the door,with her eye on Emily."What do yousay,miss?""I think we shall be more comfortable if we stay where we are.""Whatever pleases you,my dear,pleases me."With this reply,the compliant housekeeper--as amiable as ever on the surface--returned to her chair.
Would she notice the locket as she sat down?Emily turned toward the window,so as to let the light fall on the diamonds.
No:Mrs.Rook was absorbed,at the moment,in her own reflections.Miss Emily,having prevented her from seeing the garden,she was maliciously bent on disappointing Miss Emily in return.Sir Jervis's secretary (being young)took a hopeful view no doubt of her future prospects.Mrs.Rook decided on darkening that view in a mischievously-suggestive manner,peculiar to herself.
