“Yes, sir, it is very surprising, when he is engaged to the sweetest girl in the world.”
“Yes. Did the dog howl much?”
“Not a great deal, but very strangely; and don’t turn from one subject to another so abruptly.”
“Enough to make him, with his head cut open, poor brute!”
Ten minutes after they descended to the drawing-room, where, in spite of her cheerful looks and animated manner of addressing the old lawyer, it was plain to see that Gertrude had been crying, and the tears rose to her eyes again as she noted the tenderly sympathetic manner towards her of her two friends.
“I have ordered the dinner to be taken in at the usual time,” she said eagerly.
“Oh, no, my dear, not for us,” said Mrs Hampton after a desperate effort to master herself.
“Yes, I am sure that George—who, I feel sure, has gone to join Saul Harrington—would wish us to go on as usual. Yes, Denton? Dinner?”
“No, miss; I only came to say that there is no wine up.”
“No wine, Denton?”