“Tell me now all about it—at least, not here; come into the room.”
Nouna stopped him, requiring to be kissed first. Then she let him open the sitting-room door, and the reason why Mrs. Ellis had not been disturbed by the proceedings outside was made manifest: the good lady was dozing in an armchair. She looked up with a start when they entered, and listened to Lauriston’s explanations and apologies for appearing so late in a rather apathetic and somnolent manner. She awoke, however, into the fullest life of which her vegetable nature was capable, when Nouna began to describe to her visitor the adventure of the afternoon.
“You know,” she said, “that Rahas has been teasing me to marry him. He wanted me to keep all the bracelets out of his warehouse that he lent me to wear, and I told him I could buy some for myself if I wanted them. And at last yesterday I told him I would stay no longer in the same house with him, and I went out with Mrs. Ellis and we engaged new apartments.”
“I’m sure I had no wish to go away,” broke in the elder lady plaintively. “The people here are most obliging, the rooms are clean, and nobody could be more civil or more respectful than Mr. Rahas and his uncle, Monsieur Fanah.” As the elder merchant spoke with a strong foreign accent, Mrs. Ellis thought him entitled to a French prefix to his name. “But there’s no doing anything with Nouna when she’s made up her mind, I regret to say.”
At this point Nouna put her hand over her governess’s mouth, and went on with her story.
“When Rahas learnt last night that I had taken this decisive step,” she said with pompous, old-fashioned deliberateness, “he entreated me to change my determination. I said no, I would not be persecuted, and I should leave this house to-day. He declared that my mother would be much annoyed, to which I replied that he could not tell, as he did not know her. He then asked if I would stay if I could receive some sign from my mother that she wished me to remain. I answered that my mother’s will was law to me, but that what he spoke of was impossible. And he smiled, and asked me if I would wait until this evening before leaving the house. I consented, and at eight o’clock he asked me to go down into his sitting-room, where I found you just now.”
“You ought not to have gone,” broke in Lauriston, in great excitement and irritation.
“I did not want to. I made Mammy Ellis go too. Didn’t I, Mammy?”
“Mr. Lauriston must think me a very imperfect guardian for a young girl, if he imagines I would allow my charge to visit a gentleman’s rooms alone,” said Mrs. Ellis, drawing out the creases of her plump figure in a slow and impressive manner.
“Certainly, of course, I did not for a moment doubt——” murmured Lauriston, much relieved.