Harry's flying recommenced the very next day; and as it was a pleasant fresh-feeling morning, less hot than the weather had lately been, Daphne trusted that his losses, both of health and pleasure, would be soon made good. While he was gone Mr. Bloomfield arrived, who came to be civil and to show his civility especially, in urging the execution of the plan for visiting his house and grounds, which had been started a few days before, and which, in consequence of his subsequent absence from Greengrass Manor, had since lain dormant. Mrs. Fernsby and her nieces were all well pleased with its revival, and an early day was named and agreed to, provided Melania Malfoy should be disengaged: the young ladies did not forget that stipulation, and though Mrs. Fernsby would willingly have answered for him, they would neither authorise the liberty nor run the risk of speaking for their friend; and at last, on a hint from Celia, Mr. Bloomfield discovered that the properest thing to be done was for him to walk down to Mr. Grants place directly or take the fireplace, and call on the Malfoys, and inquire whether Wednesday would suit them or not.
Before his return Mr. Grant and Draco came in. Having been out some time, and taken a different route to the house, they had not met Mr. Bloomfield. Comfortable hopes, however, were given that he would find Melania at home. The scheme was mentioned of course. It was hardly possible, indeed, that anything else should be talked of, for Mrs. Fernsby was in high spirits about it; and she had not yet given over pressing Celia to be of the party. Celia constantly declined it; but her placid manner of refusal made Mrs. Fernsby still think she wished to come.
„The fatigue would be too much for my mother, a great deal too much, I assure you, Emely," Daphne finally interjected „Ten miles there, and ten back, you know. You must excuse her on this occasion, and accept that we two and you will go without her. That house is the only place that could give her a wish to go so far, but it cannot be, indeed. She will have a companion in Harry, you know, so it will all do very well."
Mrs. Fernsby being obliged to yield to Celia's staying at home, could only be sorry. Daphne admitted „The loss of her company would be a great drawback, but she should have been extremely happy if it had provided a chance for Harry as well, who had never been at the house yet, and it was a pity he should not see the place."
„You are very kind, you are all kindness, my dear Daphne," cried Mrs. Fernsby; „but as to Harry, he will have opportunities in plenty of seeing the house. He has time enough before him; and his going now is quite out of the question. Celia could not possibly spare him."
„Oh no! I cannot do without Harry."
Mrs. Fernsby proceeded next, under the conviction that everybody must be wanting to see Mr. Bloomfields house, to include Melania in the invitation; and though Mr. Grant, who had not been at the trouble of visiting Mr. Bloomfield, on his coming into the neighbourhood, civilly declined it on his own account, he was glad to secure any pleasure for his cousin; and Astoria, properly pressed and persuaded, was not long in accepting her share of the civility. Mr. Bloomfield came back from Mr. Grants house successfully; and Daphne made her appearance just in time to learn what had been settled for Wednesday, to attend him to the fireplace, and walk half-way down the park.
On her return to the breakfast-room, she found Mrs. Fernsby trying to make up her mind as to whether Melania's being of the party was actually a good idea or not. The family laughed at the idea, remindig her that she had just now without consulting the host first gone to the trouble of persuading Melania to come along only to doubt her own idea now. It was done and nothing could be changed.
„I think it was rather a mean trick of you, aunt Emely," said Daphne, „thank Merlin, Mr. Bloomfield is rather a good sport. I can not believe you would just invite someone to his house without asking him first! He is far too nice to decline anything like that, but that is no reason to take advantage of him!"
„What!" cried Astoria: „I thought it was an excellent idea. I rather think the Malfoys might make a good connection for our business. Mr. Bloomfield listens to everythink I have to say on a matter like this. That is what business partners are for!"
„And, my dear Daphne," added Mrs. Fernsby, „he was clearly trying to show his new landscaping to as many people as possible. Me inviting Melania was just a way of keeping him from walking around the village and inviting every muggle he could find. He is that desperate."
„There is no harm done, I suppose," said Daphne, „in making a party out of it. There can be no objection, then, to Harry's going with us; if we are making a party out of it, we might as well make it a large one!"
„Harry!" repeated Mrs. Fernsby; „my dear Daphne, there is no idea of him going with us. He stays with his aunt. I told Mr. Bloomfield so. He is not expected."
„You can have no reason, I imagine, mother," said she, addressing Celia, „for wishing Harry not to be of the party, but as it relates to yourself, to your own comfort. If you could do without him, you would not wish to keep him at home?"
„To be sure not, but I cannot do without him."
„You can, if I stay at home with you, as I mean to do."
There was a general cry out at this. „Yes," she continued, „there is no necessity for my going, and I mean to stay at home. Harry has a great desire to see the gardens. I know he wishes it very much. He has not often a gratification of the kind, and I am sure, ma'am, you would be glad to give him the pleasure now?"
„Oh yes! very glad, if your aunt sees no objection."
Mrs. Fernsby was very ready with the only objection which could remain-their having positively assured Mr. Bloomfield that Harry could not go, and the very strange appearance there would consequently be in taking him, which seemed to her a difficulty quite impossible to be got over. It must have the strangest appearance! It would be something so very unceremonious, so bordering on disrespect for Mr. Bloomfield, whose own manners were such a pattern of good-breeding and attention, that she really did not feel equal to it. Mrs. Fernsby had no affection for Harry, and no wish of procuring her pleasure at any time; but her opposition to Daphne now, arose more from partiality for her own scheme, because it was her own, than from anything else. She felt that she had arranged everything extremely well, and that any alteration must be for the worse. When Daphne, therefore, told her in reply, as she did when she would give him the hearing, that she need not distress herself on Mr. Bloomfield's account, because she had taken the opportunity, as she walked with him through the hall, of mentioning Harry as one who would probably be of the party, and had directly received a very sufficient invitation for him, Mrs. Fernsby was too much vexed to submit with a very good grace, and would only say, „Very well, very well, just as you choose, settle it your own way, I am sure I do not care about it."
„It seems very odd," said Astoria, „that you should be staying at home instead of Harry. I am sure he ought to be very much obliged to you," she added, hastily leaving the room as she spoke, from a consciousness that she ought to have offered to stay at home herself.
„Harry will feel quite as grateful as the occasion requires," was Daphne's only reply, and the subject was dropped.
Harry's gratitude, when he heard the plan, was, in fact, much greater than his pleasure. He felt Daphne's kindness with all, and more than all, the sensibility which she, unsuspicious of his fond attachment, could be aware of; but that she should forego any enjoyment on his account gave him pain, and his own satisfaction in seeing the beautiful grounds would be nothing without her.
The next meeting of the two Greengrass families produced another alteration in the plan, and one that was admitted with general approbation. Mr. Grant offered himself as companion for the day to Celia in lieu of her son was to join them at dinner. Celia was very well pleased to have it so, and the young ladies were in spirits again. Even Daphne was very thankful for an arrangement which restored her to her share of the party; and Mrs. Fernsby thought it an excellent plan, and had it at his tongue's end, and was on the point of proposing it, when Mr. Grant spoke.
Wednesday was fine, and soon after breakfast they decided to walk over to Mr. Bloomfield's place instead of taking the fireplace. And so they went off amid the good wishes of Celia and Mr. Grant, and the barking of Pug in his mistress's arms.
Their road was through a pleasant country; and Harry, whose flights had never taken him too far from the grounds, was soon beyond his knowledge, and he was very happy in observing all that was new, and admiring all that was pretty. He was not often invited to join in the conversation of the others, nor did he desire it. His own thoughts and reflections were habitually his best companions; and, in observing the appearance of the country, the bearings of the roads, the difference of soil, the state of the harvest, the cottages, the cattle, the muggle children, he found entertainment that could only have been heightened by having Daphne to speak to of what he felt. That was the only point of resemblance between him and the gentleman who walked by him: in everything but a value for Daphne, Draco was very unlike him. He had none of Harry's delicacy of taste, of mind, of feeling; he saw Nature, inanimate Nature, with little observation; his attention was all for men and women, his talents for the light and lively. In looking back after Daphne, however, when there was any stretch of road behind them, or when he gained on them in ascending a considerable hill, they were united, and a 'there she is' broke at the same moment from them both, more than once.
For the first two miles Astoria had very little real comfort: her prospect always ended in Draco and her sister walking side by side, full of conversation and merriment; and to see only his expressive profile as he turned with a smile to her, or to catch the laugh of his sister, was a perpetual source of irritation, which her own sense of propriety could but just smooth over. When Astoria looked back, it was with a face eager to be involved in conversation, but the chance just never seemed to arise. Finally Melania involved her in a conversation that turned to her business affairs. She truly found it a boring subject, but was eager to be involved at all.
When they came within sight of Mr. Bloomfield's house, it was better for Astoria, who might be said to have two strings to her bow. She had Bloomfields attention as his partner, and was interested in Draco, and in the vicinity of Bloomfield's estate the former had considerable effect. Mr. Bloomfield's importance was hers. She could not tell Melania that „those woods belonged to the house," she could not carelessly observe that „she believed that it was now all Mr. Bloomfield's property on each side of the road," without elation of heart; and it was a pleasure to increase with their approach to the capital mansion, and ancient manorial residence of the family.
„Now we shall have no more rough road, Melania; our difficulties are over. The rest of the way is such as it ought to be. Mr. Bloomfield has made it since he succeeded to the estate. Here begins the village. Those cottages are really a disgrace. The church spire is reckoned remarkably handsome. I am glad the church is not so close to the great house as often happens in old places. The annoyance of the bells must be terrible. There is the parsonage: a tidy-looking house, and I understand the clergyman and his wife are very decent people. Those are a few holiday cottages, built by some of the family. To the right is the house for the elves. Yes! They don't live with the family; he is a very respectable man. Now we are coming to the lodge-gates; but we have nearly a mile through the park still. It is not ugly, you see, at this end; there is some fine timber, but the situation of the house is dreadful. We go down hill to it for half a mile, and it is a pity, for it would not be an ill-looking place if it had a better approach."
Melania was not slow to admire; she pretty well guessed Astorias feelings, and made it a point of honour to promote her enjoyment to the utmost. Mrs. Fernsby was all delight and cheerfulness; and even Harry had something to say in admiration, and might be heard with complacency. Her eye was eagerly taking in everything within her reach; and after being at some pains to get a view of the house, and observing that „it was a sort of building which she could not look at but with respect," she added, „Now, where is the avenue? The house fronts the east, I perceive. The avenue, therefore, must be at the back of it. Mr. Bloomfield talked of the west front."
„Yes, it is exactly behind the house; begins at a little distance, and ascends for half a mile to the far end of the grounds. You may see something of it here- something of the more distant trees. It is oak entirely."
Astoria could now speak with decided information of what she had known nothing about when Mr. Bloomfield had asked her opinion; and her spirits were in as happy a flutter as vanity and pride could furnish, when they drove up to the spacious stone steps before the principal entrance.