"Oh, you mean gentlemen? Yes, a good many came; but for my part, I was always gladdest to see Adolfo Torres. He wasn't so foreign."
"Is he there?" said Lanse, with a delighted laugh; "has he followed her all that distance? Bravo for Adolfo!"
"I don't see where he got the money to go," remarked Aunt Katrina, with one of her well-bred sniffs.
Betty flushed at this. "Mr. Torres has property, Kate," she said, with dignity. Then her usual humble sincerity came back to her. "I don't reckon it's much," she went on. "I've no idea where he stayed, nor anything about it; but I'm sure, whenever he came to see us, he always looked like a dignified gentleman."
"Naturally," said Lanse. "Because that is what he is. Well, I give him my vote."
As this conversation was beginning, word was brought to Margaret that Mr. Winthrop was in the drawing-room, and wished to see her. Celestine was the messenger.
"Has he come to stay? You and Looth must put the east room in order, then," said the mistress of the house. "Have you told the others?"
"Yes'm," said Celestine, disappearing.
When Margaret entered the drawing-room, twenty minutes later, Winthrop was there alone. Celestine had told nobody. Minerva Poindexter, meanwhile, sweeping a remote corridor, had had a tussle with her conscience; and gagged it.
"No one here?" said Margaret in surprise. "Where are the others?"