"I'm afraid the General is in for a sharp attack, Mrs. Colville."
"I am afraid he is—he is so very imprudent. You know my sister, Sir Everard?"
Sir Everard advanced with a smile of recognition.
"Is it possible you are little Mary Wilberforce? I didn't recognize you just now, you are grown out of all recollection. To be sure, it is a long time since I saw you—three or four years, isn't it?"
Mary said something about it being a long time, but she did not like to particularize the date, though she remembered it perfectly: because Lady Duncombe had been with him at the time, and she was afraid of recalling painful associations.
"And when did you leave Banleigh?"
"About a week ago."
"How were my people?"
"I saw Lady Albinia and Miss Duncombe the day before I left. They were both very well."
A shy smile lighted up her face as she mentioned Miss Duncombe. There was evidently some joke about her, for it was reflected on Sir Everard's. "Poor old Cecilia," laughed he.