"Can I go and fetch the sparrow-hawk, Miss Falconer?" Mr. Arundel began.
"Come, Arundel," Melville interrupted, "you and I can stroll round this moat; we are not returning, as I told you, with Joyce."
But Mr. Arundel deliberately turned in the direction in which Joyce was hastening; and Charlotte, much to her cousin's vexation, was left with him.
A muttered exclamation, which was not fit for ears polite to hear, escaped Melville's lips, and Charlotte's soft speeches were lost on him.
"It is so nice to see you here, Cousin Melville. Won't you come and pay auntie a visit?"
Melville had particularly desired to escape a visit to the Vicar's Close, but he began to fear it was inevitable.
"Do tell me about college," Charlotte began. "I am dying to hear, because I have a special interest in college now." This was said with a smile and glance which were meant to make an impression. "And do you wear one of those sweet hoods with snow-white fur round it, Cousin Melville? They do look so pretty!"
"Well—no," drawled Melville, evasively; "I have not taken my B.A. yet."
"Mr. Bamfylde, the new minor Canon at the cathedral, wears one; and it is so charming!"
"Humph!" Melville rejoined.