"Quite easily, miss. A camp bed in my sitting-room will do nicely."
"Are you sure that you would not like the spare room for him——"
Mrs. Hulver interrupted her with a gesture of horror.
"A common soldier in the spare room, miss! and the room just done up, too! No, indeed! A missionary may use it if he is a friend of the house; but Dr. Wenaston should not stoop any lower. With the new curtains and carpet the room is fit for the Governor himself. As William—that was my third—used to say: 'The finest trappings in the world don't alter the breed of a horse.' My son may look very smart in his corporal's uniform, but for all that he's only the son of a man in the ranks."
Eola's delicate sense of hospitality was not satisfied. With the spare room empty she felt that the door should not be shut against an Englishman, whose character was perfectly respectable, but whose rank differed from her own.
"If it is inconvenient to you to have him in the sitting-room, I should be very pleased to let him use the spare room," she said.
Mrs. Hulver drew herself up with pride. "I know my place, miss," she replied, severely, as much as to say: "and you ought to know yours." She continued: "Even if I could bring myself to let him use the spare room, I should know all the time that it would not be good for him. As William—that was my first—used to say: 'Pride is a plant that needs neither water nor manure; it will grow fast enough by itself.' My son William will make himself comfortable you may be sure; and his pride will not be fostered by the camp bed, for it's a little ricketty, to say nothing of being a bit hard. My sitting-room will be like a palace to the boy after the barracks. I'm not sure that I ought to let him sleep there."
"Where else could you put him?" asked Eola in wonder, for she knew the limitations of the house.
"In a corner of the back verandah," replied Mrs. Hulver promptly. "It would be very convenient to have him there."
"The night wind might give him fever."