"He's not our sort," General Macdonald said. "And the fact is, Rowena, I am always longing to have you to myself. We have the house full enough now; every additional visitor absorbs more of your time. It sounds selfish—but it's a fact. I want a quiet life."
"My dear Hugh, think of the coming winter. In another month or so all our neighbours will have departed, and you and I will have our fireside to ourselves. I am looking forward to a winter with you alone. And we shall enjoy it all the more for not having the house to ourselves now. When does Mr. Ross want to come?"
"In a few days. Next Saturday—he mentioned. Of course, I could not refuse him; and I know you'll make him welcome. But I only hope he won't hang round me and want me to do the entertaining."
"Is he married?"
"No, he says not."
"I think he'll manage to amuse himself without worrying you; and if you were boys together, you must have some interests in common. It will do you good to have a man to talk to, Hugh. We females are so much in the majority."
Rowena had been so accustomed to a constant relay of visitors at Mrs. Burke's, that she could not understand her husband's dislike to them. And she felt that unless she got him to shake off his solitary habits now she would never succeed in doing it later on.
Beyond preparing a room for this fresh guest she gave little thought to his coming. When she mentioned it to Diana, that young woman shrugged her shoulders:
"What a bore! If he's like your husband, Rowena, I shall elude him all I can. We'll shut them up in the sacred study with their pipes, and leave them to themselves."
Rowena shook her head.