Margaret did not exactly know, but she suspected, quite correctly, that her stepmother was endeavouring to disguise a considerable amount of pique under this depreciation of undue intimacy. She therefore made no reply, and Mrs. Carteret continued:
"I daresay she will be taking you up violently, for a while, until she tires of you. The fuss she makes with her brother is quite absurd. He is a nice-looking young man, and nothing more. Don't you think so, Margaret?"
"He is nice-looking, certainly," said Margaret; "but I have seen too little of him to pronounce any further."
"He has the great attraction of being very rich," said Mrs. Carteret, in a sharp tone; Margaret's cautious and reasonable reply irritated her. "If he dies without heirs, his sister will have all the Scotch property; it is worth fifteen thousand a-year, and entailed on heirs general. It is a wonder some manoeuvring mother has not made a prize of him long ago. He's rather a soft party, I should say."
"Should you?" said Margaret. "Mr. Baldwin looks firm as well as gentle, I think--not the sort of man to be married by anybody without his own unqualified consent."
"Of course he's a great catch," said Mrs. Carteret, "and I understand he is terribly afraid of ladies. He thinks every woman who looks at him is in love with himself or his acres."
"Indeed," said Margaret--and there was a tone of polite incredulity in her voice--"I should not have taken Mr. Baldwin to be a vulgar-minded man."
"I daresay not," returned Mrs. Carteret; "he is rather prepossessing than otherwise to strangers; but then, you know, Margaret, your judgment of men has been rather rash than infallible hitherto. Dear me! I had no notion it was so late--time to dress for dinner!"
Mrs. Carteret rose, laid aside her everlasting fancy-work, and left the room. Margaret rose also, but lingered for a few moments. As she stood with her hands pressed upon her temples, and her pale face drawn into a look of pain, she thought:
"I wonder, if James Dugdale had heard that speech, would he think I could possibly stay here."