"Have patience!" cried the baronet. "The fact is I have taken a fancy in a certain quarter—and, though I have striven hard to wrestle against it, it is every hour growing more powerful than my opposition."
"What do you mean? what can you mean?" asked the widow, completely bewildered.
"Why do you receive into your house two young ladies of a beauty so ravishing——"
"Henry! is it possible?" exclaimed Mrs. Slingsby, a light suddenly breaking in upon her mind.
"It is very possible that I should feel an unconquerable—an invincible passion for Rosamond Torrens," added the baronet, growing bolder now that the ice was fairly broken.
"And you tell me this to my face!" murmured the widow, in a hollow tone, while her countenance became purple with a rage which she dared not suffer to explode.
"It is expressly to you that I am compelled to make the avowal," was the deliberate reply; "since it is at your hands that I expect assistance."
"At my hands!" almost shrieked the widow.
"Beware how you alarm the house!" said the baronet. "You will do much better to listen to me attentively."
"Proceed," gasped Mrs. Slingsby.