Chapter 12

Mr Barnes gladly received the invitation and was welcomed two weeks later, with very joyous spirits. Lilian was quite ashamed of herself at seeing him with so unaffected a conduct, and decided to leave her former indisposition behind. Mr Barnes was, indeed, not much altered, and therefore nothing was changed in their mutual conduct, except Mr Barnes' slight inclination to spend more time with Lilian. It had to be noticed, however, by the two Holmes sisters; Catherine, especially, joined them more often whenever she was not prevented by the conversations of others and carefully listened to everything they said to each other. Lilian was not affected at all for this interruption, she was rather eager to observe Mr Barnes' conduct towards someone else. He was at first not influenced by Catherine, but from a time he began to talk very little, and of very unimportant matters, such as weather and books. One day, as he and Lilian were walking around Barton Hall, she asked him:

"Mr Barnes, I have noticed that your conduct has been changed, has something happened?"

"I do not know - perhaps Miss Catherine's presence has altered my countenance. She joins us a lot lately, I have to get used to that."

"She and her sister used to be very generous and friendly. From a time, however, they seem to be in need of something, and I cannot quite find out the reason. Except of Miss Catherine's -"

Lilian stopped, realizing in time her enormous mistake. Catherine's affection for Mr Barnes was of course kept secret by everybody; she quickly replied, "her being bored and in need of entertainment."

"Of course, I should have thought of that. Miss Barton, I hope you do remember my cousin, Anne Barnes."

"Why, of course. Has anything happened?"

"Yes; she is getting married. You would be surprised to know her choice, for it is not a settled thing; she wants to get married, but she desperately tries to reach someone."

"And who might that be, dare I ask?"

"It is actually me who she wants to marry. Her father has called on me several times before I left, and has informed me of her wish."

Lilian received the news with very much surprise. The way he laughed at so serious a matter was of course strange. "This is a form of her proposing?"

"Yes," he answered laughing. "But I have assured you before and I shall still do that I do not mean to marry one of my relatives. Miss Barton, you seem quite vexed and startled. I hope you were not alarmed by the news. It is of little importance even to me."

"I am only thinking of Miss Barnes' reply to your refusal," she answered. "It can only harm her."

"Of course, the only way to avoid it is to marry her, and that -" he said, stopping for a moment to contemplate on Lilian's pale face, "is not even thought of."

Lilian was happy to hear it, without expressing it, and after the conversation continued to a more pleasant subject, she realized, unaware until that moment, that Mr Barnes had seen it on her face, and undoubtedly he knew and thought about her feelings for him. She reddened, but did everything to hide her embarrassment. It was, however, inevitable that the subject would be brought up. Not that day, indeed, for a short spring rain prevented them from walking any further and returned inside, where they found company in Lady and Sir Barton.

"Emily has written," her mother immediately announced, "and she misses us a lot, though I cannot believe it, for she has always told me that London has everything she needs. Of course it might be upsetting to have no one but Mr Holmes as company, but I am sure that there are plenty of young ladies and gentlemen to whom she can speak. What do you think, Lilian?"

"Emily shall never change; it is her temper that determines her to think this way. She is not steady in her opinions, and this makes her change her mind very quickly. In this aspect, I cannot say too much."

"How do you find Emily's account, Mr Barnes?"

"Miss Barton has said all that I could have thought of."

"Well, how silent you both are today," Sir William said, looking at Lilian with a smile.

"The bad weather has indisposed us, perhaps," Mr Barnes said, noticing Sir William's countenance.

"Mr Barnes, it is not going to rain for too long, look, the clouds are nearly gone," Lady Elizabeth said, clearly not seeing the strange looks that were exchanged in front of her eyes, and rather wanting to see the sky and its alterations."

"Maman, how are the two Miss Holmeses? I have heard nothing of them for the past two days."

"My dear, I sincerely do not know. It appears that they have left for London, or Bath, well, I am not sure, for no one has told me a word about it; their servants have told ours that they have left yesterday morning."

"It is so uncommon for them to leave without telling us!" Lilian said; all this time, Mr Barnes was listening to the conversation very thoughtfully.

"It is indeed. Lilian, do you think that they are angry with us?", Sir William asked.

"Why should they be? They have called on us very recently, and they seemed very high-spirited." With these words, she looked at Mr Barnes, who glanced back, with a mild smile.

"Indeed; should I write Emily and ask her?"

"Yes, maman, you should."

The letter was sent and by the following days' post it was answered, carrying a positive reply to the question.

My dear mother,

 I have received your last letter with great astonishment at my sisters-in-law's disappearance. I asked Joseph whether he knew anything about this matter and he declared that he did not. However, this afternoon he came to me and told me that his sisters had wanted to surprise us with a short visit that would be made tomorrow, yet I was sure that they had not known the impatience they caused you, leaving you with no information upon the matter.

I intend to tell them that an announcement should have been made, at least to us, so that we could know at least how to welcome them. It is of little importance now, but I shall tell them never to repeat this. I had wanted to write you, but an assembly prevented me from it.

I have heard that Mr Barnes has come to Barton Hall. Please send him my greetings; I hope that you and father are in a very good state and that Lilian is in good disposition.

Your loving daughter,

Emily

When the letter was being read, they were all gathered by the fire and Lady Elizabeth was the first to comment on it.

"What a conduct!," Lady Elizabeth said, "I have never imagined that they could leave by themselves just to make an unexpected call on them. I cannot stop to wonder at their behaviour."

"My dear, you must not speak like that, we all want to surprise each other at a point," her father said.

"We cannot do anything to change it now, however, and besides, it is not so dreadful a thing," Mr Barnes added.

Lady Elizabeth exclaimed: "Emily has not written to us because of an assembly! She is so careless sometimes!"

"Maman, that is not very important at present. Nothing is important at all, if I am to be honest. People always get bored after staying too much in one place; we cannot punish them for it."

This affair was forgotten when Lady Elizabeth came into the room, later that day, with a letter in her hand:

"My brother has written again! He says that they are all heading towards Barton Hall! There is little to be done now, I am afraid. I shall tell the servants to put everything in order for their arrival." After she left the room, Lilian began to laugh.

"Maman is so dreadfully affected by their coming. They are extremely disagreeable and are more of a bad acquaintance, but they are part of our family and there is little we can do to escape them."

"I have only met your eldest cousin, George Chester. He has not left me too much of a bad impression and perhaps the other one is more amiable."

"I assure you it is not so," she said smiling.

"Is their company worse than Miss Catherine's?"

"I cannot make an answer to this question. You have to see for yourself."