"You are more observant than most men," she said. "Sidney is very good company at all times; but she is not phlegmatic by nature, and is thinner skinned than most people, so is apt to be misunderstood. She is of the make of French aristocrats in the Revolution, who went to the guillotine with a jest upon their lips."
"You speak as if a tragedy is hers."
"Oh, no; we have no tragedies in this village."
"Nor suitors to carry off your heroines?"
Again Monica glanced at him, but she said nothing.
It was the next day that he was enlightened, and it was Aunt Dannie who did it.
She came out into the garden with him and paced up and down by his side as he was smoking his pipe.
"Tell me about your dinner party. Such a little amuses us in this quiet neighbourhood. I suppose you fell in love with Sidney Urquhart on the spot. Most people do, I believe. She might have married over and over again had she been so minded. But I always said that her cousin, Archie Hughes, was the favoured man."
"You're a veritable gossip," said Randolph, looking at the old lady with twinkling eyes.
Aunt Dannie nodded her head, well pleased with the accusation.