"No, and I cannot imagine what's keeping him; he generally comes straight home from the office. I cannot help being nervous, for I know something unusual must have happened to have detained him. It is past eight o'clock. Supposing he should have met with an accident? I expect the streets are like glass to-night."
"I wouldn't go to meet trouble if I were you, ma'am," advised Louisa. She had been in Mrs. Trent's service for several years, and had insisted on accompanying the family to Princess Street, having declared nothing should induce her to leave the mistress to whom she was deeply attached. "You're too anxious, ma'am, that comes of having had so many troubles, I expect; but if anything had happened to the master you would have been the first to have been informed of it. There! Surely that's his step in the hall."
It was, and Mrs. Trent's face brightened immediately. She hastened into the hall, where she found her husband divesting himself of his overcoat.
"I'm late, for we're a hand short at the office," he explained, "and I've had extra work to do. I hope you haven't been anxious, Mary? Yes? That was foolish of you, my dear. How have you been getting on with Cousin Becky?"
"Very well indeed. I have taken a great liking to her, Martin, for she seems so simple-hearted and sincere. She has been doing some mending for me, she begged me to find her some work."
"John mentioned her to me this afternoon," Mr. Trent said, lowering his voice. "He said he considered we'd acted unwisely in inviting her here and that we should probably see we had made a mistake. However, Janie's coming to call on her, and I believe she's to be invited to the Rookery to spend a day. It made my blood boil to hear the tone John adopted in speaking of her—as though she was of no account because she's a poor relation. If Fortune had smiled on us, Mary—" Mr. Trent paused, then added a trifle huskily, "God's will be done. If Fortune had smiled on us, perhaps we might have been unsympathetic too."
[CHAPTER VI]
"SHOWING OFF"
Cousin Becky had been nearly a week at Beaworthy when, one afternoon, Mrs. Marsh called to see her. It was on a Saturday, and Polly and Roger had gone for a walk as the weather was beautifully fine and dry, so they were absent during their aunt's visit and were not told much concerning it, though they would have liked to have known all that had been said.
"I do wonder what Cousin Becky thinks of Aunt Janie," Polly said to her brother. "I don't like to ask her, but I should dearly like to know."