"Pray, how do you know?"
"Because you are not a plain woman."
"How can you be so ridiculous?" she remonstrated, impatiently.
"Surely you are not going off immediately," said Mrs. Alley-Lacy, "to see this wonderful dam?" bringing out the last word with considerable unction.
"No, not just yet. I wish I were!"
"And what will become of you?"
"Mrs. Gascoigne and I are going to look after one another," volunteered Mrs. Waldershare, laying her hand on Angel's arm with an air of affectionate proprietorship. "I shall take care of her. She is left in my charge, is she not, Philip?" and she appealed to him with her eloquent eyes.
Philip was considerably taken aback, but he rallied with his usual elasticity, and said:
"Oh, Angel has an old head on young shoulders. I shall make her responsible for the house—and I shall ask Padre Eliot to keep an eye on both of you."
"Well, Gascoigne," said General Bothwell, standing up and shaking crumbs out of his beard, "I must confess that I am amused at this scheme of yours—I don't believe in scaring people, you know. I think you are on the wrong tack—the wrong tack—but you Engineer chaps are, in my experience, the most pig-headed branch of the service."