"Succeed in what?" demanded Claude sharply, hardly relishing this perspicuity.
"Why, in this love-suit of yours. Aye, aye, Claude, I can see what you aim at, old as I am. Well, she is a pretty girl, clever and worthy. I know of no woman who would make you a better wife. You have my best wishes for your success."
"And you will introduce me to her father?"
"I'll try to, but I won't promise confidently. Paynton is a strange creature and may refuse to see you. By the way," added Hilliston, as though struck with a sudden thought, "what was my wife saying to you at the door?"
"She was requesting me to speak to her in the drawing room. There is nothing wrong, I hope? She does not look well."
"Oh, nothing wrong, nothing wrong!" replied Hilliston easily, rising to his feet as the vicar moved toward the door. "She is fond of you, my dear boy, and is anxious about the case."
"Anxious about the case," thought Larcher, as he followed his host into the drawing room; "that is strange. She can have no interest in it. H'm! I'll try the effect of Tait's destination on her. He said I would be astonished at the result. I am beginning to be so already."
Perhaps Jenny had overheard the whisper in the dining room, and was sufficiently taken with Larcher to be jealous of his attentions to Mrs. Hilliston, old though she deemed her, for, before he could cross over to where the lawyer's wife was seated, Jenny beckoned to him with her imperious finger. He could do nothing but obey, despite the frown which darkened Mrs. Hilliston's face, as she saw, and, with womanly instinct, guessed the maneuver.
"Come and sit down here," whispered Jenny, under cover of the music, for Miss Densham was at the piano. "I have not seen you for several days."
"That is not my fault," said Claude, delighted at the interest thus displayed; "you stay so much indoors. I have been looking for you everywhere."