Auntie drew near at this challenge; when would she not draw near when that pretty voice summoned her?
"I don't know what I am," said that stout lady, with a beneficent smile. "But, 'on my, if it came to living with Dr. Darkham all my life, I'd cry 'No, thank you!'"
"Oh, auntie, now you are giving yourself away indeed! You are uncharitable, and Mr. Blount will put you down as incorrigible," said her niece, retreating behind the fan she held, as if horrified.
Evidently, she was ashamed of herself, thought her aunt. Blount, however, was filled with unhappy certainty that she was laughing.
"Don't mind her, Mr. Blount," said old Miss Robinson very kindly.
"I know you won't do anything of the kind."
"Ah, Lord Ambert—going?"
"Yes—aw—just dropped in for a moment, you know. Good-bye," to Elfrida, who smiled at him.
"See you at the Stackfords' on Tuesday?"
"I think not." She still smiled at him, her lovely little face a picture. "This sudden illness of Mrs. Darkham's—it casts a sort of gloom, you see."