“He is taken with you, anyone can see with half an eye,” declared Gertrude. “But you treat him just as though he were any ordinary young man—”
“Isn’t he?” asked Elizabeth.
“Pooh! You know he is a cut above the others with all that money.”
The dinner party proved a success in spite of Elizabeth’s embarrassment. The poor girl felt that the evening would never end. The Wrights knew how to entertain and nobody in Dorfield could give a better dinner than Mrs. Wright; the daughters were handsome and could be agreeable; Mr. and Mrs. Markle had a social gift and easy manners that insured a light, pleasant conversation wherever they were invited.
Elizabeth almost had hysterics when she saw her father leading Mr. Markle into his sanctum sanctorum to show him his rare first editions, his autographed copies, etc. Mrs. Markle was delighted with the Boydell plates from Shakespeare and the portfolio of Hogarth’s drawings handed down from an ancestor, who also collected.
“And this is the silver service you spoke of,” she said to Elizabeth. “See, Felix, this old service was marked and Mrs. Wright had the initials removed. Isn’t that wonderful?” she said naïvely to her husband. “I wonder how they do it. It is a wonderful piece of silver. Only feel how heavy! And look at those brass candlesticks! Heavens, Mrs. Wright! Those candlesticks are worth more than their weight in gold. They are of a rare and wonderful design. Surely you don’t go off to the beach and leave such treasures unprotected?”
“Oh, yes,” said Mrs. Wright, delighted that her guest was so appreciative of the heirlooms. “We have never had any burglaries in Dorfield, at least none for years to amount to anything. Of course, as a rule, we take the silver with us.”
“Oh, of course,” said Hortense, and Elizabeth listened for the disappointed note she felt was surely in her voice.
“We either take it with us or hide it somewhere in the house,” continued Mrs. Wright. “This heavy service I usually hide in first one place and then another. Sometimes I hide things so well I can’t find them myself. The tops of wardrobes are famous places. Nobody ever thinks of looking for things there.”
“Of course, nobody would,” commented Hortense.