“I am so fond of dancing,” she said, catching her breath in a little sigh of ecstasy. “We all are. It is one of the things we can do without spending any money, you know.”
It was shortly after this, just as they were standing in twos and threes, chatting and refreshing themselves with Dolly's confections and iced lemonade, that an entirely unexpected advent occurred. There suddenly fell upon the general ear a sound as of rolling wheels, and a carriage stopped before the door.
Dolly, standing in the midst of a small circle of her own, paused in her remarks to listen.
“It is a carriage, that is certain,” she said,—"and somebody is getting out. I don't know “—and then a light breaking over her face in a flash of horror and delight in the situation commingled. “Phil,” she exclaimed, “the Philistines be upon us,—it is Lady Augusta!”
And it was. In two minutes that majestic lady was ushered in by the excited Belinda, and announced in the following rather remarkable manner,—
“If yer please, Miss Dolly, here's your aunt, Mr. Phil.”
For a second her ladyship was speechless, even though Dolly advanced to meet her at once. The festive gathering was too much for her, and the sight of Ralph Gowan leaning over Mollie in all her bravery, holding her flowers for her, and appearing so evidently at home, overpowered her completely. But she recovered herself at length.
“I was not aware,” she said to Dolly, “that you were having a"—pause for a word sufficiently significant—"that you were holding a reception,"—a scathing glance at the pensive Brown, who was at once annihilated. “You will possibly excuse my involuntary intrusion. I thought, of course” (emphasis), “that I should find you alone, and as I had something to say to you concerning Euphemia, I decided to call tonight on my way from the conversazione at Dr. Bugby's,—perhaps, Dorothea, your friends” (emphasis again) “will excuse you for a moment, and you will take me into another room,"—this last as if she had suddenly found herself in a fever hospital and was rather afraid of contagion.
But apart from Mollie, who pouted and flushed, and was extremely uncomfortable, nobody seemed to be either chilled or overwhelmed. Phil's greeting was so cordial and unmoved that her ladyship could only proffer him the tips of her fingers in imposing silence, and Dolly's air of placid good-humor was so perfect that it was as good as a modest theatrical entertainment.
She led her visitor out of the room with a most untroubled countenance, after her ladyship had honored Gowan with a word or so, kindly signifying her intense surprise at meeting him in the house, and rather intimating, delicately, that she could not comprehend his extraordinary conduct, and hoped he would not live to regret it.