“Thank you, my dear,” said Mrs. Davenant, “that was very nice of you to say that. I can see you have a kind heart. Yes, his uncle is just dead, Mr. Ralph Davenant—Squire Davenant. Why did you start?”—for Una had started and turned to her with a sudden flash of intense interest in her eyes—“did you know him? Ah, no, you could not, if you have not been out of the forest—how strange it seems!—- but you have heard of him, perhaps?”
“Yes, I have heard of him.”
At that moment the door opened, and Stephen and Gideon Rolfe came out.
The usual smile sat upon Stephen’s face, in strange contrast to the stern, set look on his companion’s.
Raising his hat to Mrs. Davenant as he approached, Gideon put his hand on Una’s shoulder.
“Go indoors, Una, to your mother,” he said quietly.
Una rose, and after a momentary glance at each of their faces, went inside. Stephen opened and held the door for her, then closed it and came back to the others.
“Mother,” he said, “Mr. Rolfe and I have made our arrangements, and he agrees with me that it would be wiser, now that the news is broken to Miss Rolfe, for her to accompany you back to town this afternoon.”
Mrs. Davenant nodded, and glanced timidly at Gideon’s stern face.
“We have won Mrs. Rolfe over to our side, and she is already making the few preparations necessary for Miss Rolfe’s journey.”