The Hermit's Daughter Read Online Free PDF

Unfortunately there wasn’t an iota of beauty or charm in a cartload of them. Derwent sat sulky and silent throughout the trip.
    In the evening, Monstuart excused himself on the pretext of visiting other relatives in the neighborhood. Derwent saw an excellent chance to nip back to Mellie and assure her he had not been discouraged from marrying her. He felt quite manly at his prospective future, flying in the face of Monty’s authority, taking on the care of a penniless wife and her family.
    To fool Derwent, Monstuart turned his team west upon leaving the Colchesters, planning to approach the Hermitage residence circuitously. Deceived, for he never suspected a trick, Derwent set out by the more direct route as soon as his uncle was down the road, and got there before him.
     

Chapter Three
     
    There was considerable elevation in the spirits of the Hermitage ladies when Lord Derwent was shown into their Rose Saloon that evening. Hopes had not been high that he would dare to oppose his imperious uncle. The four were in the sort of mood generated by a successful bucking of authority, made merrier by the element of romance that pervaded the room, Derwent stated firmly that he would take care of them all, “absolutely,”and Mrs. Hermitage said as firmly that she would help. With fifteen thousand pounds to tide them over till Derwent’s fifteen thousand a year became his, the situation did not appear at all desperate.
    There perhaps lingered at the back of their minds the dread that Lord Monstuart might have something to say in the matter, but such an unpleasant contingency was not spoken of. The talk was all of a remove to Gravenhurst, Derwent’s estate in Dorchester, at his disposal in spite of his uncle.
    Sally heard it and frowned. “I thought you planned to go to London!”she exclaimed. That had always been the plan before Monstuart’s arrival.
    “Monty will be there,”Derwent said.
    Sally stared at his cowardice. It angered her that Monstuart should have anything to say in leading their lives. “What of it? Are you afraid of him? You must present Melanie to society, Derwent. Why, it would look as though you were ashamed of her if you whisked her off to Gravenhurst.”Melanie, who did not share her sister’s love of high society, looked an accusing question at her hero.
    “You’re right, Sally, absolutely,”Derwent said at once. “We shall go to London for the Season first.”Really, the boy was criminally easy to lead.
    * * * *
    With such interesting goings-on to distract them, the ladies didn’t hear the front knocker. When Lord Monstuart was shown into the Rose Saloon, he was faced with the highly unpleasant sight of his cocker of a nephew being fawned upon by three laughing ladies, making him feel, no doubt, like a monarch. Monstuart assumed this was the way they had beguiled the boy, by dancing attendance on him, feeding him wine and compliments. His brow lowered, his nostrils quivered, and an angry liverish hue suffused his face. It was thus that he appeared to the four when his presence was noted. A pall of silence immediately fell over the noisy room, as if the schoolmaster had come into the class and caught his students out in some ribaldry.
    “Uncle!”Derwent exclaimed, jumping to his feet with a guilty start.
    “Ladies, Derwent,”Monstuart said in a thin voice as he nodded his head and stepped in. His impulse was to take his nephew by the scruff of the neck and drag him by main force from the room and the neighborhood, but he quickly squashed the impulse.
    “You said you were going to call on the Gibbards!”Derwent said. His pink face told them all that he had sneaked off behind his uncle’s back, and he had been bragging about how he had not knuckled under to Monstuart.
    “They were not at home,”Monstuart replied in glacial accents.
    “What in the deuce made you come here?” Derwent asked.
    Sally, sizing up the situation, rose and in three smooth strides was at Monstuart’s side, a