"Not yet. Cannot you stay with me to receive them?"
"My father thought it best not. I have no right, and it might seem like intrusion."
"Intrusion? If I ask you to stay?"
Yes, even if Hermione asked it, for Hermione was no longer mistress. But Marjory could not suggest this. She did not know what to say. Her own instinct was strongly opposed to the step, yet she could not bear to leave Hermione alone at such a trying moment. They took one more turn together, and when at the farther end of the terrace a sound of wheels stopping at the front door was heard.
"They have come!" exclaimed Marjory, flushing.
Hermione paused. "Impossible," she said. "It is some caller. Slade will say that I am engaged."
"But everybody knows—nobody would come to-day. Had I not better go home?"
Hermione hesitated, sure that her own conjecture would prove to be in the right. The train was one proverbially behind time, and Hermione had not looked for the travellers to arrive until a full quarter of an hour later. Besides, the bells had only just begun to ring.
For once, however, the late train was early; and the bell-ringers, as well as Hermione, were taken by surprise.