"How soon can you be ready, my dear young lady?"
"I am quite ready now."
"Then on Monday, I think. What do you say, Mrs. Neville?" inquired the captain.
"Monday will do," replied the wife.
"Now here are some people coming in to interrupt us," said the captain in a vexed tone.
Corona looked up and said:
"They are Chief Justice and Mrs. Pendletime, come to call on their late ward, Mrs. Fabian Rockharrt. You know them?"
"Not a bit of it. So if you please, my dear, we will retire at once and leave you to receive them, especially as we are both engaged to dine at the arsenal this afternoon," said the captain; and he arose, and with his wife withdrew from the parlor.
Cora went forward to receive the new visitors. They both greeted her very warmly, and then expressed the deepest sympathy with her in her sorrow at the loss of her grandfather, and made many inquiries for the particulars of his illness.
When Corona had answered all their questions, and they had again expressed their sympathy, she inquired: