Was not more fair than he.’
‘The panther in the wilderness!’ That was an evil comparison; surely he was good as well as beautiful. Was it really only yesterday that he had arrived—not yet twenty-four hours ago? And how long would he still be here? And what would the Abbey, everything be, when he was gone? She turned hastily away from the window, and would not venture another look.
The two men paced about the river walk for a time, till Mr. Bolton asked:
‘Do you know any of the people about here?’
‘I met an old acquaintance this morning—Father Somerville, from Brentwood.’
‘Somerville! You know him? Is he any favourite of yours?’
‘As to that, I can hardly say. I like what I have seen of him, but know very little of him. I fancy we have many tastes in common. He is a cultivated man, who has seen the world, I think.’
‘Ay, ay! he’s clever, is Somerville, and attractive too, I could fancy. I never let any of those gentry inside my house.’
‘No?’ said Jerome, indifferently. ‘I hope you have no objection to your visitors knowing them, for I have promised to go and see him to-morrow.’
‘Oh, my visitors do as they please, I hope. So long as he does not darken my doors, it’s all one to me what he does. Nita, I am thankful to say, is not of an hysterical temperament, for all she is so slight and delicate. She has never displayed any tendencies to being over-religious, or going in for Ritualism or that kind of mummery; else I should have had to send her to a good sharp school.’