There were three people in the room. There was Kitty, in a mulberry bonnet and pelisse, engaged in working her fingers into a pair of new gloves; there was Freddy, standing with his back to the fire; and there was Miss Broughty, radiant in pale blue merino, with swansdown trimming, and a swansdown muff.
It was only for an instant that Mr. Westruther was shocked into immobility. Before Kitty, turning to greet him, had time to observe his stupefaction, he had recovered himself, and had moved forward, saying with perfect sangfroid: “I collect that I have not chosen my moment well: you are going out! Never mind! my errand is soon discharged.”
“Yes, Miss Broughty is so kind as to give me her company,” she replied, shaking hands with him. “We mean to walk in the Park, and see how the daffodils and the crocuses come on. Olivia, pray allow me to introduce Mr. Westruther to you!”
“Unnecessary,” he said coolly, advancing towards Olivia, and holding out his hand. “I already have the honour of being acquainted with Miss Broughty. How do you do?”
This announcement was productive of only the mildest surprise in Miss Charing; but when she glanced towards her friend she was astonished to see her face suffused with blushes. Miss Broughty looked up, and looked down, stammered something inaudible, and barely permitted Mr. Westruther to touch her hand before tucking it away again in her muff. Such conduct, even in a girl unused to society, seemed strange. Kitty wondered if Jack could in some way have offended Olivia. She knew him to be occasionally arrogant; and had just decided that he must have wounded Olivia’s susceptibilities with some slighting look or remark, when she chanced to catch sight of Freddy. The elegant Mr. Stand en bore all the appearance of one who had been stuffed, his gaze being so glassy, and his face so totally devoid of expression, that one glance in his direction was enough to convince Kitty that she had stumbled upon a mystery he would have been very glad to have kept hidden from her. Only a short time earlier she would certainly have demanded an explanation, but her little stay in London had already taught her to command her tongue. Seeming not to notice Olivia’s confusion, she said: “And what is your errand, Jack?”
It was soon disclosed; she could not answer for Meg’s willingness to go to Sadler’s Wells, but she said that for herself she would be all happiness to accept. She then shook hands with both gentlemen, unmistakeably dismissing them, and swept Olivia off for their proposed walk in the Park.
Alone with Mr. Standen, Mr. Westruther said sweetly: “Would you care to explain to me, my very dear coz, how I come to find that charming ladybird on terms of intimacy with Kitty?”
“Yes, I didn’t fancy you’d like it overmuch,” replied Freddy. “Nothing to do with me. Don’t imagine I introduced her to Kit, do you?”
“The notion, I own, had presented itself to me,” said Mr. Westruther.
“Well, I didn’t,” said Freddy. “Dashed bacon-brained notion to take into your cockloft! For one thing, not acquainted with the girl myself; for another, not the sort of girl I would introduce to Kit.” He thought this over for a moment, and then said scrupulously: “What I mean is, won’t be, if she pays any heed to the lures you’ve been throwing out to her this age past! Looked to me as though she well might. Pretty little bit of muslin, but hen-witted.”