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Chapter 26
MR. PARKER was in a buoyant mood as they sat down at table and could scarcely restrain his impatience for Morgan to leave the room before revealing some secret, of which he had already dropped several broad hints. "Now," he said importantly as soon as the butler disappeared. "I have something very interesting to tell you. Shall I make you guess what it is?" Mrs. Parker protested she had been doing that quite long enough already and added, with a worried glance at Charlotte and a warning one to her husband, that she knew he had been gossiping with Diana and Susan for the past hour. "Yes, I have been down at Number Four," admitted Mr. Parker. "And they are all guessing away there too, trying to puzzle out why Sidney should have come all the way from London just to attend our little Assembly. Arthur says one thing and Susan another; and Diana, to be sure, has the best intelligence of all and is trying again to make the rest of us believe it," laughing heartily. "No, no, it would be very nice if it were true," with a significant look at his wife as if they had discussed this particular story in private, "but we all know Diana is inclined to let her imagination mn away with her; and then she rushes here and rushes there, making enquiries and uncovering details which will bolster her own ideas. Do you know she has been talking to Sidney`s groom and discovered he is not even spending the night here? John says they are driving straight back to London from the Assembly; he has already paid their toll dues to save time waking up gatekeepers on the return journey. Driving all night! They have even arranged the postings in advance and will pick up Sidney`s own horses at Croydon by nine o`clock to cover the last stage. John says they must be in London by midday for some unknown meeting Sidney sets great store by. And of course Diana insists only her theory would explain why he should have come all this way for one evening. "I thought you had decided Diana`s theories were not worth discussing," interrupted Mrs. Parker, beginning to look anxious again. "You said you had something interesting to tell us." "So l have, so I have," rejoined her husband in high good humour. "I know something Diana does not because I called in to see Sidney at the hotel on my way back. My plan was to try, if I could, to worm the truth out of him. Well, at first he refused to tell me anything -- you know the way Sidney laughs and evades when you ask him a direct question. So I put it to him very earnestly -- showed I was really concerned over the matter -- that these rumours of Diana`s were not the sort of thing he should countenance -- not the sort of thing at all. And in the end, he agreed to tell me. Observe, he said it was to be a secret, but l am sure he would not have the least objection to my own family knowing it." "If it was to be a secret," said Mrs. Parker, "perhaps you had better not tell us." By this time Charlotte was very curious to know what this mysterious secret of Sidney`s could be. Several wild and rapid conjectures had already occurred to her; and though she could hardly bear the suspense of waiting to hear whether she would be let into the secret, she went on slicing an apple into smaller and smaller sections with what she hoped was a fine show of indifference. "Oh! as to that, Sidney as good as told me I might mention the matter freely at home. "Let Susan and Diana go on believing what they like," said he, "but I agree you and Mary are in rather a different position; and it might relieve her mind a little if you reveal my real object in visiting Sanditon today." If Mr. Parker was quoting his brother`s exact words, Charlotte reflected, there was no mention of herself in this permission of Sidney`s. And from several eloquent looks being exchanged between husband and wife, she gathered this very point was now being debated in silence between them. But Mr. Parker had evidently decided the licence extended also to their guest; and with a final reassuring nod to his wife, he began in an impressive tone, "When I selected today for the date of our Assembly, little did I realise its importance for Sidney`s friend, Mr. Brudenall. But Sidney has just been congratulating me on such uncanny sense of timing. If he himself could have chosen one day out of any others for our Assembly, he would have fixed on today -- the very thing he would have wished for, he says, to take his friend`s mind off his present miseries and help him to survive this particular evening as effortlessly as possible. Today, Sidney has just informed me, is the wedding day of Henry Brudenall`s cousin." Charlotte was so near to laughing at this anti-climax that she cut up her apple again with even greater concentration. Such an explanation might appear wholly credible to Mr. Parker. Such judicious flattery from his brother over the random selection of an important date might have added the final corroborating touch to compel his beIief. But this particular wedding day was becoming so mobile an event that she herself was beginning to doubt its very existence. She could well understand now why Sidney had purposely excluded her name from inclusion in his latest secret. "So you see, Mary," Mr. Parker added comfortingly, "there was quite a simple explanation of the mystery after all. l as good as told you that this morning. I was sure, when we discovered the truth, it would prove more prosaic than Diana`s fanciful notions. And, you know, Sidney`s good nature in seeing his friend through this difficult period is so praiseworthy that we must lend him all rhe support we can. He was always determined, he tells me, to be in Sanditon this evening if he could. And he is grateful to me for furnishing the additional excuse of the Assembly. Never, he says, would he like Mr. Brudenall or anyone else to suspect he cravelled down here for a more serious reason than that." Charlotte could scarcely be blamed for concluding there must indeed be some very serious reason for Sidney Parker`s presence in Sanditon. She was also convinced she would never discover rhe truth from listening to any of his relations; she even had some sympathy with him in his persistent efforts to mislead them. The Parkers were so inquisitive a family that she could readily believe he found the greatest amusement in deceiving them all. It must have been a source of high entertainment to him all his life: to be constantly making his brothers and sisters waste their time in inpertinent quesses and futile discussions, as he invented one story after another and watched them being taken in by each deception in turn. If it helped him to confuse his family, Charlotte even forgave him the pretence of his gentle flirtation with herself. These light-hearted attentions to her -- what, in fact, did they amount to? when she considered them rationally? Nothing more than an easy, friendly playfulness; and she would indeed be a fool in imaging they meant nothing else. It was hardly Sidney`s fault that she had given him her heart long before his lively brain hit upon such a scheme for teasing his sister Diana; and that her own feelings were now complicating his little plot far beyond his own conception of it. She knew it was her behavior and not Sidney`s which was causing Mrs. Parker`s anxiety; and with a sturdy resolution to be level-headed and sober-minded the whole evening, she went upstairs to dress for the Assembly. If any further proof was necessary to enforce this resolution before she left Trafalgar House, she overheard it in descending the stairs again an hour later. Mr. and Mrs. Parker were still debating the matter in their hallway as she came to the first bend of the staircase. "My dear Mary, do not give it another thought," Mr. Parker was saying. "You must allow me to know best; and I am quite sure I did the right thing. Miss Heywood is a sensible girl, but she does not know Sidney as we do. That liveliness of his is often misplaced, so it was as well to let her know Mr. Brudenall and not herself was his main concern this evening. I hope I have given her a little hint not to take these attentions of his too seriously. It is quite clear to me now that he was mainly intent on hoaxing Diana." "That is all very well -- but is it clear to Miss Heywood?" said Mrs. Parker unhappily. "He should take care not to deceive our guest at the same time as his sister. Besides, you now have Arthur`s account to confirm what these attentions have been. Sidney was most insistent he should escort Miss Heywood to the tea rooms. Susan too -- her story about speaking to Miss Heywood twice at the table and three times on the Terrace, and never once getting any reply, convinces me of the danger almost more than all the rest. Even the most sensible girls can be misled by attentions as marked as these seem to have been. Oh, I am sure Sidney means no ill, but it is really bad of him to behave in this thoughtless way." "I will speak again with him," promised Mr. Parker. "Only high spirits, we know -- but shhhh," at last catching the sounds Charlotte had been at considerable pains to make on the stairs. "Well -- and here we all are ready to set off! I am sorry I must insist we arrive down at the Assembly rooms at so early an hour, But you know somebody always has to be the first. Somebody has to lead the way." Mr. Parker was, however, by no means the only one in Sanditon to covet this distinction; for Lady Denham, attended by Miss Brereton, and Miss Diana Parker, flanked by Arthur and Susan, were all standing in the broad entrance passage when they arrived. "Ah! my dear Tom, I am so glad you are here at last," cried Miss Diana. "Here is Lady Denham saying we should have the candles lit in the main rooms and settle ourselves upstairs. But it is a good half-hour before we can expect anyone else to arrive. "How do you do, Lady Denham -- a capital idea of yours," Mr. Parker agreed. "We shall all catch colds in this draught downstairs. Ha! the musicians have arrived too, I hear. Splendid, splendid. Let us all go and listen to them tuning up." And with as much noise and bustle as he could contrive, he urged them up the stairs. Charlotte found herself beside Miss Brereton who, unlike herself, seemed under no constraint to dissemble her excitement at the prospect of the evening of dancing before them. Her eyes sparkled in anticipation, as with more open-hearted animation than she normally displayed, she confessed, "Oh, Miss Heywood! I am convinced this is going to be the most delightful evening we have yet spent in Sanditon. I have been practising Scottish steps for the last hour in my impatience to begin dancing. I can hardly wait for everyone to arrive and the music to start up. Do you not feel the same?" "Why yes -- yes, of course," Charlotte smiled. She and Clara Brereton had been diligently avoiding each other since their drive to Brinshore. The uneasy awareness between them of the confidence offered and rejected had precluded any further attempts towards intimacy. But Charlotte had long ago repented her lack of warmth on that occasion and willingly responded to this friendly overture. Feeling, however, that their roles had suddenly been reversed and it was she and not Miss Brereton who now had something to hide, she searched for a reply passing over herself. "It is a pity your cousin should not have arrived in Sanditon before this Assembly." "Ah, but she is coming a week from next Tuesday," exclaimed Miss Brereton, speaking in a low but excited voice. "This is another circumstance which adds to my happiness. I heard from her this morning and it is now all settled -- there is to be no more delay and uncertainty. My dear Elizabeth, in her letter to me today, writes that she will be coming by the mail coach as far as Hailsham on September the eighth; and Lady Denham has already agreed to let me meet her there in the coach. l am so happy about such definite and decided arrangements. Elizabeth`s coming will solve everything for me." And then perhaps wondering if she had spoken too openly about her private difficulties, to which Charlotte had once turned a deaf ear, Miss Brereton moved away to exchange civilities with Mrs. Parker. But Charlotte was left with the impression that Clara Brereton had solved most of her problems to her own satisfaction already, that no confidante was now necessary to her, and she was quite certain of her own judgement in reaching any decision. Envying so contented an air of self-possession, sadly lacking in herself that evening, Charlotte decided she must at all costs preserve a decent show of composure in front of the Parkers; she was determined that not by one word or one look would she betray what she was feeling; and the resolution of maintaining a staid demeanour formed her main preoccupation as the Assembly rooms began to fill. Their cold and empty appearance soon gave way as the Mathews and the Browns, the Fishers, the Miss Scroggs, the Mrs. Davis and Miss Merryweathers of the library subscription list began making a hesitant appearance; to be greeted by Miss Diana as old friends, and to dissipate some of their first stiffness by recognising all the other faces as ones which had long been familiar to them on daily walks along the shore line. Sir Edward and his sister managed to time their arrival with that of the three young men from the hotel. Mrs. Griffiths, showing great solicitude for Miss Lambe, and carefully intent on st`ating her well away from the draughty passage into the card room, scarcely noticed that the Miss Beauforts had eluded her thaperonage. They dallied on the staircase, twitching each other`s gowns and pinning up each other`s trains till, resolutely stylish and fashionably late, they could make their entrance with the orchestra`s first strains of a favourite air; and were thus on hand to engage the knot of young men still standing by the door before they could escape to choose their own partners. Sir Edward and hIr. Catton offered themselves tip with good grace as the first sacrifices of the evening; and Sidney Parker left Henry Brudenall no choice but to engage Miss Denham for the first two dances, by walking away from them both and coming to claim Charlotte`s hand. She was by now not very well pleased by this distinction; and well aware the suspicions of the entire Parker family were directed towards them, had been regretting for some time that she had allowed Sidney to form this engagement in advance. However, the five pairs of eyes watching her made her more determined than ever to appear perfectly easy and unembarrassed; and as Sidney made this quite feasible by chatting to her in his most sensible, unaffected manner, she began to feel she was really managing very well in hiding her own confusion. They were half way down the first set before he made one of his devastating asides. "Both Diana and Susan are looking another way at the moment," he whispered. "I do think it would be quite safe for you to smile just once." Charlotte found herself doing so involuntarily. "It has gone a lot further than your sisters," she said frankly. "You have Mr. and Mrs. Parker and Arthur to contend with now as well." Oh, you may be sure I have had that impressed on me! But I hoped they had sufficient tact to spare you. However, your prudent conduct towards me for the last ten minutes has set all their minds at ease again. Even Mary is now convinced her guest is in no danger of falling victim to her unscrupulous brother-in-law`s shameless intrigues. Look -- she is quite comfortable over in that corner with Lady Denham. And Arthur is entirely engrossed with his dear little Miss Lambe. How long has that been afooo" "All this last week," said Charlotte, very pleascd to be able to discuss this topic with him. "I was sure you would approve. It is making such a difference in Arthur`s outlook already. l remember your once saying some buried inclination of his own might stimulate him into exertion. And it has. He has forgotten his own health completely in his passion for collecting seaweed and his concern for Miss Lambe`s comfort." "And which of these inclinations has been lying dormant in poor Arthur all these years?" wondered Sidney, looking across at his brother. "There they sit, oblivious of nearly everyone else in the room; and nobody except ourselves seems to notice what has happened to them. They remind me of two babes in the wood -- or perhaps I should say, their forest of seaweed? I agree the change in Arthur is so striking that I am more amazed than ever Diana does not see what is in front of her eyes. According to Tom, she is too busy concentrating on the vagaries of her imagination." He paused for a moment, and after a little thoughtfulness, added, "Do you think it is only Diana`s imagination, Miss Heywood?" The question revived all Charlotte`s agitation. To her dismay she discovered she was beginning to breathe far too quickly; and though she felt the necessity of speaking, she felt the impossibility of entering on such a subject even more. I am sorry -- that is -- my attention must have been wandering -- it appears -- I am afraid I was thinking of something else," she finished lamely. Her eyes were fixed on the ground and she wished for a movement of the dance to separate them for the present. But there was no such fortunate interruption; and after waiting a few moments in an agony of apprehension, she heard Sidney say with some amusement in his voice. "Exactly what were you thinking, Miss Heywood? The absolute compulsion of replying and continuing the conversation produced an immediate struggle and lent Charlotte the courage she required. Raising her head with renewed spirit, she said the first thing that came into her mind. "I was thinking how very strange it was that you should have just abandoned Mr. Brudenall to Miss Denham if you wished him to survive his cousin`s wedding night as effortlessly as possible." The sudden frown which flitted across Sidney`s face was enough to convince her he had certainly not intended she should share this intelligence. But Sidney was always very quick to recover from any reverse. "Oh, Sanditon has been working wonders with Henry. He is making a splendid recovery. But I do agree I must be more methodical about those wedding days. I should have noted down in my diary which date separate people have in mind." "Then you do admit you have been misleading everyone about Mr. Brudenall and his cousin?" Charlotte demanded defiantly. "I wonder if there was actually any wedding day at all." "One day I shall tell you," Sidney promised her. "Believe me, there is nothing I should like better than to take you fully into my confidence now. But in a ballroom lengthy explanations are impossible. All I will beg at the moment is that you trust me a little longer, and never believe any of the stories my family may tell you." And he said this so solemnly that Charlotte was once again flustered into silence. It was only when their dance was over, and she had time to think about it later, that she realised Sidney Parker had succeeded both in reading her thoughts and evading her questions. She hardly knew how the remainder of her own evening wore away. She began not to understand a word anyone said and scarcely to distinguish between her partners. She danced and chatted and pretended everything was normal but her eyes seemed to follow Sidney of their own accord and she envied every one of his partners. They covered a wide selection; and she had no difficulty in distinguishing between them at all -- the Miss Beauforts, Miss Denham and Miss Brereton. He even persuaded Miss Lambe to dance with him for half a set before he returned her to Arthur and sat with them both for half an hour. He then took both his sisters in to supper; and finally sat out another dance with Lady Denham -- with whom he appeared to be on the best of terms -- before returning to Charlotte to claim the last dance of the evening. "Come, Miss Heywood," he said, holding out his hand. "I have taken the greatest compassion on your position all evening; you cannot refuse to dance with me again now. Diana will be so disappointed if we do not give her a little more to talk about; and you can keep your eyes on the floor for the whole set if that makes you feel Mary will not censure your conduct." Charlotte could not have refused him. When she told herself that this might be the last time she would dance with him -- perhaps even the last time she would see him -- she felt hot tears pricking at the back of her eyelids; and his very kindness to her made self-possession more difficult than ever to maintain. Her heart was now too heavy and her thoughts too painful for much dissemblance; to keep her eyes downcast on the floor had become more a necessity than a ruse. Sidney talked away easily on indifferent subjects as though he never expected her to reply; but at one point he did introduce a note of sympathetic understanding. "I am indeed sorry I cannot stay behind in Sanditon to protect you from my family, Miss Heywood. But if I were you, I would behave very coldly to Diana for the next few days. It should at least keep her in her place if you make it clear how offended you are over the blackberry syllabub." Charlotte did look up, once, rather blankly. "Well, surely you must have noticed at supper what a disaster that was? I admit it seemed like any ordinary syllabub to me too; but according to Diana it was a very inferior variety indeed. Some villain called Duckworth seems to have been responsible for it. She has been entirely deceived in him and he turns out to have no talent for cooking at all. No lemons to bring out the flavour! Who could have expected such an omission merely because she forgot to go along and supervise this Duckworth making it up? Her own special recipe was completely ignored. The poor man could not find where she had put it so used his own initiative and did what he could: sack instead of Rhenish and a glass bowl instead of an earthenware pot. Diana says the result was deplorable." Charlotte had eaten nothing at supper, had not even seen the syllabub and had forgotten her exertions in collecting the baskets of blackberries that morning. She was reminded of them only when Sidney ran a finger lightly across a scratch on the back of her hand. "So all these bramble marks were earned for nothing! You must show Diana how much you resent being tricked into collecting a lot of unnecessary blackberries. It is all her fault -- though, of course, being Diana, she is busily dividing the blame between the unfortunate Duckworth and myself. In fact I am honoured with a very liberal share in the business! She says it was my arrival and my nonsense which put everything else out of her head. Oh, Diana is so vexed -- her syllabub was a failure, the Assembly is mined and she does not know what she has ever done to be inflicted with such a tiresome brother!" He talked on in this playful style; but Charlotte would have gone through their whole dance in silence if he had not, towards the very end, given her hand a light pressure and said kindly, "Do not look so worried, Miss Heywood. By this time my folly of the morning has been well driven home to me by my entire family; and I sincerely apologise for all the embarrassment it has caused you. At least say you forgive me." "There is nothing to forgive," said Charlotte simply, feeling a constriction in her throat. It was not possible for her to sty more but she managed to glance up with a smile of reassurance. She thought she understood him, and was very much affected by the view of his disposition which this appeal indicated: it was an impulse of good nature and a proof of his own warm and amiable heart, which she could not contemplate without emotions so compounded of pleasure and pain that she knew not which prevailed. But the remembrance of his appeal would at least remain a pleasure to her, comprising as it did his perception of her embarrassment and his resolution of parting-with her on friendly terms. "Thank you," he said, smiling back at her. "That gives me hope that my journey to Sanditon has not been the complete disaster I feared, " She was glad Sidney felt he could now drive back to London with a clear conscience; she was glad she had done nothing which might have betrayed her too obviously. But the evening had seemed to her almost endless; and she was convinced at least one person in Sanditon, whom she had always suspected of conspiracy and deceit, now bore a more satisfied and complacent mind than her own, when Miss Brereton said on the way downstairs, with the same happy sparkle she had shown on the way up, "Oh! my dear Miss Heywood! How soon it is all at an end! l wish we could have it all over again!"
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