"As angels in some brighter dreamsCall to the soul when man doth sleep,So some strange thoughts transcend our wonted themes,And into glory peep."
HENRY VAUGHAN.
Mrs. Hale was curiously amused and interested by the idea of theThornton dinner party. She kept wondering about the details, withsomething of the simplicity of a little child, who wants to have all itsanticipated pleasures described beforehand. But the monotonous life ledby invalids often makes them like children, inasmuch as they haveneither of them any sense of proportion in events, and seem each tobelieve that the walls and curtains which shut in their world, and shutout everything else, must of necessity be larger than anything hiddenbeyond. Besides, Mrs. Hale had had her vanities as a girl; had perhapsunduly felt their mortification when she became a poor clergyman"swife;--they had been smothered and kept down; but they were notextinct; and she liked to think of seeing Margaret dressed for a party,and discussed what she should wear, with an unsettled anxiety thatamused Margaret, who had been more accustomed to society in her onein Harley Street than her mother in five and twenty years of Helstone.
"Then you think you shall wear your white silk. Are you sure it will fit?
It"s nearly a year since Edith was married!"
"Oh yes, mamma! Mrs. Murray made it, and it"s sure to be right; it maybe a straw"s breadth shorter or longer-waisted, according to my havinggrown fat or thin. But I don"t think I"ve altered in the least."
"Hadn"t you better let Dixon see it? It may have gone yellow with lyingby."
"If you like, mamma. But if the worst comes to the worst, I"ve a verynice pink gauze which aunt Shaw gave me, only two or three monthsbefore Edith was married. That can"t have gone yellow."
"No! but it may have faded."
"Well! then I"ve a green silk. I feel more as if it was the embarrassmentof riches."
"I wish I knew what you ought to wear," said Mrs. Hale, nervously.
Margaret"s manner changed instantly. "Shall I go and put them on oneafter another, mamma, and then you could see which you liked best?"
"But--yes! perhaps that will be best."
So off Margaret went. She was very much inclined to play some prankswhen she was dressed up at such an unusual hour; to make her richwhite silk balloon out into a cheese, to retreat backwards from hermother as if she were the queen; but when she found that these freaks ofhers were regarded as interruptions to the serious business, and as suchannoyed her mother, she became grave and sedate. What had possessedthe world (her world) to fidget so about her dress, she could notunderstand; but that very after noon, on naming her engagement toBessy Higgins (apropos of the servant that Mrs. Thornton had promisedto inquire about), Bessy quite roused up at the intelligence.
"Dear! and are you going to dine at Thornton"s at Marlborough Mills?"
"Yes, Bessy. Why are you so surprised?"
"Oh, I dunno. But they visit wi" a" th" first folk in Milton."
"And you don"t think we"re quite the first folk in Milton, eh, Bessy?"
Bessy"s cheeks flushed a little at her thought being thus easily read.
"Well," said she, "yo" see, they thinken a deal o" money here and I reckonyo"ve not getten much."
"No," said Margaret, "that"s very true. But we are educated people, andhave lived amongst educated people. Is there anything so wonderful, inour being asked out to dinner by a man who owns himself inferior tomy father by coming to him to be instructed? I don"t mean to blame Mr.
Thornton. Few drapers" assistants, as he was once, could have madethemselves what he is."
"But can yo" give dinners back, in yo"r small house ? Thornton"s house isthree times as big."
"Well, I think we could manage to give Mr. Thornton a dinner back, asyou call it. Perhaps not in such a large room, nor with so many people.
But I don"t think we"ve thought about it at all in that way."
"I never thought yo"d be dining with Thorntons," repeated I Bessy. "Why,the mayor hissel" dines there; and the members of Parliament and all."
"I think I could support the honour of meeting the mayor of Milton.
"But them ladies dress so grand!" said Bessy, with an anxious look atMargaret"s print gown, which her Milton eyes appraised at sevenpence ayard.
Margaret"s face dimpled up into a merry laugh. "Thank You, Bessy, forthinking so kindly about my looking nice among all the smart people.
But I"ve plenty of grand gowns,--a week ago, I should have said theywere far too grand for anything I should ever want again. But as I"m todine at Mr. Thornton"s, and perhaps to meet the mayor, I shall put onmy very best gown, you may be sure."
"What win yo" wear?" asked Bessy, somewhat relieved.
"White silk," said Margaret. "A gown I had for a cousin"s wedding, a yearago.
"That"ll do!" said Bessy, falling back in her chair. "I should be loth tohave yo" looked down upon.
"Oh! I"ll be fine enough, if that will save me from being looked downupon in Milton."
"I wish I could see you dressed up," said Bessy. "I reckon, yo"re not whatfolk would ca" pretty; yo"ve not red and white enough for that. But dunyo" know, I ha" dreamt of yo", long afore ever I seed yo"."
"Nonsense, Bessy!"
"Ay, but I did. Yo"r very face,--looking wi" yo"r clear steadfast eyes outo" th" darkness, wi" yo"r hair blown off from yo"r brow, and going outlike rays round yo"r forehead, which was just as smooth and as straightas it is now,--and yo" always came to give me strength, which I seemedto gather out o" yo"r deep comforting eyes,--and yo" were drest inshining raiment--just as yo"r going to be drest. So, yo" see, it was yo"!"
"Nay, Bessy," said Margaret, gently, "it was but a dream."
"And why might na I dream a dream in my affliction as well as others?
Did not many a one i" the Bible? Ay, and see visions too! Why, even myfather thinks a deal o" dreams! I tell yo" again, I saw yo" as plainly,coming swiftly towards me, wi" yo"r hair blown back wi" the veryswiftness o" the motion, just like the way it grows, a little standing offlike; and the white shining dress on yo"ve getten to wear. Let me comeand see yo" in it. I want to see yo" and touch yo" as in very deed yo" werein my dream."
"My dear Bessy, it is quite a fancy of yours."
"Fancy or no fancy,--yo"ve come, as I knew yo" would, when I saw yo"rmovement in my dream,--and when yo"re here about me, I reckon I feeleasier in my mind, and comforted, just as a fire comforts one on a dreeday. Yo" said it were on th" twenty-first; please God, I"ll come and seeyo"."
