The weather made it possible to spread the children's tea in the
open air. At four o'clock Letty came, and was quietly happy in being
allowed to superintend one of the tables. Adela was already on
affectionate terms with many of the little ones, though others
regarded her with awe rather than warmth of confidence. This was
strange, when we remember how childlike she had formerly been with
children. But herein, too, there was a change; she could not now
have caught up Letty's little sister and trotted with her about the
garden as she was used to do. She could no longer smile in the old
simple, endearing way; it took some time before a child got
accustomed to her eyes and lips. Her movements, though graceful as
ever, were subdued to matronly gravity; never again would Adela turn
and run down the hill, as after that meeting with Hubert Eldon. But
her sweetness was in the end irresistible to all who came within the
circle of its magic. You saw its influence in Letty, whose eyes
seemed never at rest save when they were watching Adela, who sprang
to her side with delight if the faintest sign did but summon her.
You saw its influence, moreover, when, the tea over, the children
ranged themselves on the lawn to hear her read. After the first few
sentences, everywhere was profoundest attention; the music of her
sweetly modulated voice, the art which she learnt only from nature,
so allied themselves with the beauty of the pages she read that from
beginning to end not a movement interrupted her.
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