'It is indeed my remorseful consolation!'
'Who knows that it is not your punishment?' added Mrs. Bonner; the
Countess weeping.
She went and attended morning prayers in Mrs. Bonner's apartments, alone with the old lady. 'To make up for lost time in Catholic Portugal!' she explained it to the household.
On the morning after Miss Current had come to shape the party, most of the inmates of Beckley Court being at breakfast, Rose gave a lead to the conversation.
'Aunt Bel! I want to ask you something. We've been making bets about you. Now, answer honestly, we're all friends. Why did you refuse all your offers?'
'Quite simple, child,' replied the unabashed ex-beauty.
'A matter of taste. I liked twenty shillings better than a sovereign.'
Rose looked puzzled, but the men laughed, and Rose exclaimed:
'Now I see! How stupid I am! You mean, you may have friends when you are not married. Well, I think that's the wisest, after all. You don't lose them, do you? Pray, Mr. Evan, are you thinking Aunt Bel might still alter her mind for somebody, if she knew his value?'
'I was presuming to hope there might be a place vacant among the twenty,' said Evan, slightly bowing to both. 'Am I pardoned?'