That evening at dinner Felix Young gave his sister, the Baroness Munster, an account of his impressions.
She saw that he had come back in the highest possible spirits; but this fact, to her own mind, was not a reason for rejoicing.
She had but a limited confidence in her brother's judgment; his capacity for taking rose-colored views was such as to vulgarize one of the prettiest of tints. Still, she supposed he could be trusted to give her the mere facts; and she invited him with some eagerness to communicate them. "I suppose, at least, they did n't turn you out from the door;" she said.
"You have been away some ten hours."
"Turn me from the door!" Felix exclaimed. "They took me to their hearts; they killed the fatted calf."
"I know what you want to say: they are a collection of angels."
"Exactly," said Felix. "They are a collection of angels--simply."
"C'est bien vague," remarked the Baroness. "What are they like?"
"Like nothing you ever saw."
"I am sure I am much obliged; but that is hardly more definite.
Seriously, they were glad to see you?"
"Enchanted. It has been the proudest day of my life. Never, never have I been so lionized! I assure you, I was cock of the walk.
My dear sister," said the young man, "nous n'avons qu'a nous tenir; we shall be great swells!"
Madame Munster looked at him, and her eye exhibited a slight responsive spark. She touched her lips to a glass of wine, and then she said, "Describe them. Give me a picture."
Felix drained his own glass. "Well, it 's in the country, among the meadows and woods; a wild sort of place, and yet not far from here. Only, such a road, my dear!
Imagine one of the Alpine glaciers reproduced in mud.
But you will not spend much time on it, for they want you to come and stay, once for all."
"Ah," said the Baroness, "they want me to come and stay, once for all? Bon."
"It 's intensely rural, tremendously natural; and all overhung with this strange white light, this far-away blue sky. There 's a big wooden house--a kind of three-story bungalow; it looks like a magnified N; auuremberg toy.
There was a gentleman there that made a speech to me about it and called it a 'venerable mansion;' but it looks as if it had been built last night."
"Is it handsome--is it elegant?" asked the Baroness.
Felix looked at her a moment, smiling. "It 's very clean! No splendors, no gilding, no troops of servants; rather straight-backed chairs.
But you might eat off the floors, and you can sit down on the stairs."
"That must be a privilege. And the inhabitants are straight-backed too, of course."
"My dear sister," said Felix, "the inhabitants are charming."
"In what style?"
"In a style of their own. How shall I describe it? It 's primitive; it 's patriarchal; it 's the ton of the golden age."
"And have they nothing golden but their ton? Are there no symptoms of wealth?"
"I should say there was wealth without symptoms. A plain, homely way of life: nothing for show, and very little for--what shall I call it?--for the senses: but a great aisance, and a lot of money, out of sight, that comes forward very quietly for subscriptions to institutions, for repairing tenements, for paying doctor's bills; perhaps even for portioning daughters."
"And the daughters?" Madame Munster demanded. "How many are there?"
"There are two, Charlotte and Gertrude."
"Are they pretty?"
"One of them," said Felix.
"Which is that?"
The young man was silent, looking at his sister.
"Charlotte," he said at last.
She looked at him in return. "I see. You are in love with Gertrude.
They must be Puritans to their finger-tips; anything but gay!"
"No, they are not gay," Felix admitted. "They are sober; they are even severe. They are of a pensive cast; they take things hard. I think there is something the matter with them; they have some melancholy memory or some depressing expectation.
It 's not the epicurean temperament. My uncle, Mr. Wentworth, is a tremendously high-toned old fellow; he looks as if he were undergoing martyrdom, not by fire, but by freezing.
But we shall cheer them up; we shall do them good.
They will take a good deal of stirring up; but they are wonderfully kind and gentle. And they are appreciative.
They think one clever; they think one remarkable!"
"That is very fine, so far as it goes," said the Baroness.
"But are we to be shut up to these three people, Mr. Wentworth and the two young women--what did you say their names were--
Deborah and Hephzibah?"
"Oh, no; there is another little girl, a cousin of theirs, a very pretty creature; a thorough little American.
And then there is the son of the house."
"Good!" said the Baroness. "We are coming to the gentlemen.
What of the son of the house?"
"I am afraid he gets tipsy."
"He, then, has the epicurean temperament! How old is he?"
"He is a boy of twenty; a pretty young fellow, but I am afraid he has vulgar tastes. And then there is Mr. Brand--a very tall young man, a sort of lay-priest. They seem to think a good deal of him, but I don't exactly make him out."
"And is there nothing," asked the Baroness, "between these extremes--this mysterious ecclesiastic and that intemperate youth?"
"Oh, yes, there is Mr. Acton. I think," said the young man, with a nod at his sister, "that you will like Mr. Acton."
"Remember that I am very fastidious," said the Baroness.
"Has he very good manners?"
"He will have them with you. He is a man of the world; he has been to China."
Madame Munster gave a little laugh. "A man of the Chinese world!
He must be very interesting."
"I have an idea that he brought home a fortune," said Felix.
"That is always interesting. Is he young, good-looking, clever?"
"He is less than forty; he has a baldish head; he says witty things.
I rather think," added the young man, "that he will admire the Baroness Munster."
"It is very possible," said this lady. Her brother never knew how she would take things; but shortly afterwards she declared that he had made a very pretty description and that on the morrow she would go and see for herself.
