Chapter 6

The following days passed with no news from London - Mr Holmes told Lilian:

"Miss Barton, why do you and your sister write to each other so often? What is the use of letters, then? Yesterday she wrote about her great gathering; today you are thinking of asking her for further information. Tomorrow you might receive a letter which expresses a detailed description of the most beautiful and expensive gown that she has found in London, and so on. I consider writing letters a useful way to communicate. Yet you have company here."

"Mr Holmes, I have always thought that my sister is very restless. She always needs someone to talk to, but I see your point; I have my own companions, and she has hers. I shall tell her immediately -"

She was stopped by Mr Barnes' sudden laughter. "Miss Barton, you are mistaken; this is the exact point which Mr Holmes has tried to prove. I am already forming new ideas about women being addicted to letters."

"How terrifyingly you think of us, Mr Barnes! I have used my time ill indeed, though Emily and I are very close and may be dependent on each other. Letters are part of our occupation, too. So, I cannot see why -"

"Miss Barton, do listen to me. I have not thought about my dear sisters for a single moment since I arrived here; I can say that I have even neglected them. Yet I intend to write to them at least after this fortnight will have passed," said Mr Holmes, amused by his neglecting.

"Joseph, it is unkind of you to leave your sisters with no news in this manner," his friend added.

"Miss Barton shall agree that younger sisters are very terrible to get rid of. I have not left Ellsworth Manor for, I think, five months now. Catherine, the youngest one, of sixteen years old, is the one that I especially dislike. You may seem surprised, Miss Barton, at my opinion of her, but I assure you that only the constant passing of time can damage my opinion in this way."

"Miss Catherine is not as bad as you think, Mr Holmes! Mr Barnes, please, do not let yourself be influenced by Mr Holmes. He is very upsetting sometimes."

In the morning of the seventh day of her staying at Wharton Park, a letter from Lady Elizabeth arrived.

My beloved Lilian,

I have been repeatedly thinking of your arrival in Richmond. You must tell me everything about your new acquaintance. Your sister has written me of Mr Barnes as being an eligible young man, in possess of a great estate and a beautiful park. It is hard for me to believe so since she shares my own tendency to exaggerate.

At present we are accommodated in Nottingham; it is a lovely place, although I have already been here once. One can never get too tired of Nottingham, I believe! Your father is very pleased with it, and my brother is satisfied. Yet there is another concern I need to tell you about.

You may not know, but your cousins, Mr George Chester and Mr William Chester have come with us too. I can hardly tell whether they are amiable or not; they have behaved so distantly towards us that I cannot express any feelings. And yet they are both good-looking, although not very accomplished in conversing. When I first heard that they were to come with us I was delighted by a possible attachment; you see, time passes before you notice, and there is the possibility of remaining single forever. But now that I can write in peace, I assure you of their being - pardon me, their seeming - very pleased with their situation, which is not very good indeed. This great opinion of their own fortune is not agreeable. They have shown their well-breeding (and that merit goes of course to my brother and my sister-in-law), but they seem distant and not eager to talk. My brother told me about their unnatural ways of behaving - tell me, Lilian, what am I to understand by unnatural behaviour? - yet I cannot help thinking of them as being a little proud. They are my nephews, however, and I cannot think ill of them, although I am very inclined to. I felt the necessity of letting you know. Do be so kind as to write to your sister about our arrival and tell her that we are to leave on Tuesday morning for Sheffield.

Your father greets you warmly and your cousins are expected to do the same. Your uncle says his best wishes to you and your friends and I venture to hope that your continuance at Wharton Park shall be delightful.

Your loving mother,

Lady Elizabeth Barton

Lilian should have been extremely vexed at her cousins' negative account, but she knew how deformed the truth was in her mother's eyes. She was a little distressed when the thought of their coming at Barton Hall came up. She was not prepared for any forthcoming attachment and did not want to think of it. Then she thought about Emily's very similar situation and of Mr Barnes' opinion about cousins marrying each other. She immediately sat to the writing desk and wrote to London; she reproduced as well as she could her mother's description of the two, mentioning every now and then about Lady Elizabeth's habit of thinking ill of everyone. She also told Emily that their mother had thought of their marrying one of the two; Lilian added her strong wish that they would not be compelled to marry soon. She added, within the last words, that she wished to know if her sister had gone to a recent event and if she had been introduced to anyone.

Just when she was about to fold the letter, Mr Barnes knocked at the door, asking her if she was so kind as to go downstairs with him. Lilian immediately agreed, and, followed by Mr Barnes in the sitting-room, she was startled by some new faces. Two young ladies were introduced to her. They proved themselves to be Mr Barnes' cousins, of which he had told her before. Miss Anne Barnes and Miss Virginia Welfield were two extremely handsome ladies, and they assured Lilian that they were well-bred with very few words and movements. They proved themselves not to be sisters, by difference of name. While they complimented Lilian's dress as a very fashionable one, she remembered Mr Barnes' opinion of them. She suddenly felt a desire of asking him the reason of this belief, when it was clear that the two young women would have been a very appropriate attachment, and no objections could be made. Lilian did not remember, however, until she went to bed, about Mr Barnes' immediate explanation, that he considered himself a stubborn man.