“Oh, joy! A new man is coming to Roseborough! Though I suppose he’s pretty old,” she added, after Mrs. Lee and her two escorts had disappeared. “Mrs. Lee calls men of fifty ‘dear boys,’ if they ever went to Charleroy.”
Mrs. Witherby, Wells, and Andrews seated themselves at the card table. For the moment, Mrs. Witherby’s mind was occupied with something more important than cards. Assuring herself that her niece could not hear her, she said:
“Mrs. Barton is not coming from Poplars Vale till next week, so I shall try to persuade Mrs. Mearely to let me leave our Thomas to sleep in the house here, to-night. With her sister absent, she is quite alone. You know, I consider it suspicious that her two maids should have been called to their sick mother’s bedside the same day that her coachman was obliged to take the gray mare out to the farm. It leaves Mrs. Mearely quite alone. I consider it very suspicious. I think Mrs. Barton should have been sent for. I think it peculiar that Mrs. Mearely herself did not tell me about it.”
Wells, who was dealing, replied humorously:
“But—the maids being sisters—naturally, if Jemima’s mother is ill, so is Amanda’s mother, te-he-he.”
He was rewarded with a frosty glance.
“It pleases you to be facetious. Corinne, come—we are having another game.”
Corinne came, none too willingly. The Judge, who had had enough of the Digest for that evening, nodded to Wilton.
“Er—shall we try the chessmen to-night, Howard? Perhaps Miss Crewe will sit by and inspire us.”
Howard, anxious to avoid another tête-à-tête with Mabel, answered with alacrity, “By all means.”