"You love to plague me, Jack. Why should I be spouting aught?"
Jack gave her a quizzical look.
"Three dances with me to come, mind you, Molly."
"Two," corrected Molly. "My grandmother desired me to dance no more than two with any one man. And what has become of Bob to-night?"
"Bob was on duty, and could not arrive till late. He desired me to plead with you to keep at the least three dances for him."
"Nay, I will keep two," demurely replied Molly. "And what of Sir John?" She had a quick womanly instinct, not possessed by all women, as to what people would like to speak about, and she generally managed to hit the mark, whence her quiet popularity in the little circle of those who knew her well.
"I went to Cobham a week since, and saw his mother. She fears that Sir John is sorely tried by these Sicilian complications. The Queen of the Sicilies must be a strange personage. She detests the English, and gives all her confidence to Frenchmen. Yet our Government fights in defence of the King, her husband."
"And 'tis but a year since Sir John was on the alert to be sent to the Indies."
"Ay, for he deems India to be by far the most important Colony our nation has ever had. He thought he might well go for a while, since matters in Europe were somewhat at a standstill."
"Was Buonaparte at a standstill, Jack?"