Read Silverbeach Manor for Free Online Page A

lovely. Some of the
paintings here cost thousands of pounds, they say.
    I wish you
could see the blue satin curtains in the drawing room, side by side
with draperies of the most beautiful old lace. But I think you
would like even better to see the peacocks and the countless
foreign birds. and rare, expensive pets. A boy is kept on purpose
to feed them twice a day. I think, if I had a place like this, I
should never want to leave it; but Mrs. Adair says she spent the
first year of her married life here, and it rained nearly all that
year, and somehow I think she does not care much about
Silverbeach.
    People say her
husband was rather a cross old man. All he cared about was to get
more money. Mr. Langdale, a friend of Mrs. Adair's, is teaching me
to draw. He is so kind and patient, but I never shall care as much
about it as about my violin, and I am to have the most expensive
training that can be procured. Mrs. Adair does not mind how much
she spends on me. She likes to have me with her a great deal, and
says she expects me to be quite a success in society and repay her
for all her trouble.
    You may
be sure I am enjoying my life here very much. I have all kinds of
new dresses, and shoes for every occasion, and I am actually to
learn to ride! It seems like a dream. Sometimes I think I shall
wake and find that I am only Pansy Piper in poor old Polesheaton.
Wouldn't it be dreadful to have such an awakening now! I do enjoy beautiful things, and Mrs. Adair says
I was never meant to be hidden away in Polesheaton, teaching music
to stupid children, and washing and turning my old dresses. Give
Deb my love. I hope you find her a great help. Tell Deb there are
seven housemaids here. How she would open her eyes to see the
servants' hall! I am sorry to say, my darling Aunt Temperance, that
Mrs. Adair says I am not to write again -- at any rate, for the
present. But mind you let me know directly should you ever be ill,
and be sure, wherever I am, or whatever may happen, I remain for
ever,
    Your own
fondly loving niece,
    Pansy
Adair.

Chapter
5
    A Dream Dispelled
    THREE years
have run their changeful course since Pansy signed herself Miss
Piper's "fondly loving niece" -- three years that have left their
mark upon all concerned in our story. It is the boating season, and
Silverbeach Manor is a scene of free and incessant festivity. The
queen of every picnic, excursion, and river jaunt is the beautiful
Miss Adair. Scarcely could Pansy be recognized now in the
stylish-looking young lady who is Mrs. Adair's pet and pride, who
can sing to her violin in French, German, and Italian; sketch and
paint in good amateur fashion; ride and drive; and waltz to the
satisfaction of a West End teacher.
    Pansy has more
dresses in a season now than many a girl gets in the course of two
years; her food, her clothes are of the choicest; and she can read
romances half the day when tired of active pleasure. But there is a
look sometimes upon the young face that scarcely betokens perfect
peace, real happiness and content.
    Mrs. Adair
looks as though she is starting to age, and Pansy often wonders how
old she is, and if her weakness and languor mean more than put on
for effect. But she makes plans for many a year to come, and speaks
of journeys abroad nine and ten winters ahead, and smilingly
accepts the contradictions of her visitors when she talks about
growing old.
    Cyril Langdale
is still a bachelor, and being a neighbour of Mrs. Adair's is often
at Silverbeach Manor where he is welcomed by the hostess for his
entertaining art gossip and familiarity with the fashionable world
she loves.
    Mrs. Adair has
no relations of her own. Her husband had disagreed with his only
near connection, a cousin, because he declined entering into
accounts on Sunday -- a day that always hung heavily on the
merchant's hands. He was one of Mr. Adair's bookkeepers, and was in
consequence dismissed, greatly for his benefit, for he went abroad
and traded on his own account, and was