Miss Stubbs raised her red eyebrows. It was those dreadful red eyebrows and red eyelashes that made her so—so unlovely.
'Oh,' she remarked in her unpleasant way, 'I thought I heard—ahem!—some—some kissing. I may have been mistaken; perhaps it was the wind.'
'The wind was very rough this afternoon, dear; it was rattling the shaky old lattice dreadfully.'
Miss Stubbs smiled scornfully. There hadn't been a breath of air all the day.
'I suppose it's a settled thing?' she said presently.
'Settled? Oh no; not at all!'
'Then it ought to be!' Maria said sharply. 'You've given him encouragement enough. He's been hanging about the lane every morning this week. It's known all over the place that he's waiting for you.'
'But I haven't met him!' Lucy said stoutly. She wasn't going to be sat upon by Maria.
'No; oh no! you haven't met him this week; we should all have known it if you had, because we've all been on the look-out since that day when you were caught kissing in the lane. I shouldn't have mentioned it—though it's not good form in a woman's college—if it hadn't occurred again to-day. It's all right, I suppose, if you are engaged.'