There she became proficient in mere mechanical music--her ear being a
poor one naturally--and learned to speak two languages, dance to
perfection, and conduct herself like a high-bred woman of fashion on all
occasions and in all emergencies--each and all necessities for a belle,
which, it may be remembered, she had aspired to be, and announced her
intention of becoming.
The fame of my father's wealth, her own beauty, tact, and grace, and
elegant attire, rendered her conspicuous among her school-mates, and
from among these she selected as friends such as appeared to her most
desirable as bearing on her future plans of life. So that already Evelyn
had made for herself a sphere outside and beyond any thing known in
"Monfort Hall" or its vicinity.
My father, who, like all shy persons, admired cool self-possession and
the leading hand in others, looked on with quiet approbation and some
diversion at these proceedings. He gave her the use of his equipage, his
house, his grounds, reserving to himself only intact the refuge of his
library, from which ark of safety he surveyed at leisure, with quiet,
curious, and amused scrutiny, the gay young forms that on holiday
occasions glided through his garden and conservatory, and filled his
drawing-room and halls with laughter and revelry.
On such occasions I was permitted, on certain conditions, to appear as a
spectator.
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