“Good-evening, miss! Good-evening, Mr. Robert! Please to take Miss into the saloon, while I see that the maids unpack her trunk! You will find a nice fire, for I am sure Miss must be chilled, after the drive, so late as it is. Let me take your cloak, miss! I shall bring you up a glass of hot milk directly: I am sure you will be glad of it.”
The promise of a glass of hot milk, which hardly seemed to be in keeping with the hideous vision of seduction and rape which had leapt to her mind, a little reassured Arabella. One of the footmen had thrown open a door at the back of the hall; Mr. Beaumaris possessed himself of a trembling, icy little hand, and said: “I want to make you known to Mrs. Watchet, my love, who is a very old friend of mine. Indeed, one of my earliest allies!”
“Now, Master Robert! I’m sure I am very happy to see you here, miss—and mind, now, don’t let Master Robert keep you out of your bed till all hours!”
The fear that Master Robert had quite different intentions receded still farther. Arabella summoned up a smile, said something in a shy little voice, and allowed herself to be led into a saloon, fitted up in the first style of elegance, and offering her all the comfort of a small fire, burning in a brightly polished grate.
The door was softly closed behind them; Mr. Beaumaris drew a chair invitingly forward, and said: “Come and sit down, Miss Tallant! You know, I cannot but be glad that you have decided after all not to elope with me. To tell you the truth, there is one circumstance at least that makes me reluctant to proceed with youto Scotland—a journey that would occupy six or seven days, I daresay, before we found ourselves back in London.”
“Oh!” said Arabella, sitting down primly on the edge of the chair, and regarding him out of scared, doubtful eyes.
“Yes,” said Mr. Beaumaris. “Ulysses!”
Her eyes widened. “Ulysses?” she repeated blankly.
“The animal you were so obliging as to bestow upon me,” he explained. “Most unfortunately, he has developed so marked a predilection for my society that he frets himself to skin and bone if I am absent from him for more than a night. I did not quite like to bring him with me upon our elopement, for I can discover no precedent for taking a dog with one upon such an occasion, and one scarcely cares to violate the conventions at such a moment.”
The door opened just then to admit Mrs. Watchet, who came in, carrying a glass of steaming milk on a silver tray. This, with a plate of macaroons, she set down on a small table at Arabella’s elbow, telling her that when she had drunk it, and said goodnight to Master Robert, she should be escorted upstairs to her bed-chamber. With a slightly severe injunction to Mr. Beaumaris not to keep Miss talking to him too long, she then curtsied herself out of the room.