"So Lady Gelston thinks," replied Nelly; "and won't it be a sell--the slang is delightfully expressive--when she finds it is not he."
"And wouldn't it be a sell for her ladyship if it were? thought Meredith.
"I suppose it will, indeed." was his reply. "Though all this is very amusing, I fancy I should consider it very humiliating if I were a woman. I cannot see anything enviable in a position which exposes one to such barefaced speculation."
"Nonsense!" returned Eleanor, with a forced smile; "depend on it, if you were a woman, you would like very well to be in Gertrude's position, and have every one making much of you."
As she spoke she threw down her mallet, and declared herself tired of croquet.
"Here is Gertrude at last," said Mrs. Haldane Carteret, and all the party looked in the direction of the house. There was Gertrude, coming along the terrace, and with her George Ritherdon, supporting on his arm Mr. Dugdale.
"Let us go and meet them," said Eleanor, "and tell Gerty to put the Honourable Matthew out of pain as soon as possible."
"He is to be here this evening, I suppose," said Meredith, as they moved off the croquet-ground.
"Yes," answered Eleanor; "Lady Gelston carefully provided for that last night--not that it was necessary, for he would have invited himself, and come under any circumstances."
When Eleanor and Meredith joined Miss Baldwin and her escort, George Ritherdon said to his friend: