“No, indeed, sir. But the nephew of the rich Mr. Avenel! Ah, one hears a great deal, you know, of rich people; it is the penalty of wealth, Mr. Avenel!”
Richard was very much flattered. His crest rose.
“And they say,” continued Mrs. M’Catchley, dropping out her words very slowly, as she adjusted her blonde scarf, “that Mr. Avenel has resolved not to marry.”
“The devil they do, ma’am!” bolted out Richard, gruffly; and then, ashamed of his lapsus linguae, screwed up his lips firmly, and glared on the company with an eye of indignant fire.
Mrs. M’Catchley observed him over her fan. Richard turned abruptly, and she withdrew her eyes modestly, and raised the fan.
“She’s a real beauty,” said Richard, between his teeth. The fan fluttered.
Five minutes afterwards, the widow and the bachelor seemed so much at their ease that Mrs. Pompley, who had been forced to leave her friend, in order to receive the dean’s lady, could scarcely believe her eyes when she returned to the sofa.
Now, it was from that evening that Mr. Richard Avenel exhibited the change of mood which I have described; and from that evening he abstained from taking Leonard with him to any of the parties in the Abbey Gardens.