"Ha! but the mother?"
"There again you have been mistaken. His mother has not only consented, but seems rejoiced at the attachment."
"But you told me that she fainted at the very idea."
"And so she did, but in less than twenty-four hours after we met, she sanctioned the engagement with a joy that surpassed their own."
"What! in your presence?"
"Not exactly," answered Agnes, confessing her meanness without a blush. "I took advantage of the flower-screen which you know of, and, behind the plants, with the help of a floating curtain, managed to hear every word, and to see enough—more than enough."
The woman seemed surprised. Her brow contracted, and she looked hard at Agnes, as one appears to search through an object without seeing it, when the mind resolves a new idea.
"This is strange," she said; "I had more faith in Mabel Harrington's pride. She glories in her son, you say—yet is willing to marry him to a penniless foundling."
"And is Lina a foundling?" inquired Agnes, eagerly.
The woman did not heed her.