Almost as disturbing was Mrs. Tramlay’s manner. At times she was affable and almost hearty in her manner toward Phil; again she was reserved and distant. What did it mean? Did she divine his purpose and resent it? or could it be that she was impatient that he did not pay his court with more fervor? Could he have overheard some of the conversations of which he was the subject, he would have been enlightened, yet scarcely more hopeful.
“Edgar,” said Mrs. Tramlay to her husband one evening, “young Hayn comes here so much that no one else is likely to visit Lucia with any serious intentions.”
“Well, why should they?” asked her husband. “Isn’t he good enough for a son-in-law?”
“I’m not even sure that he aspires to that position,” said Mrs. Tramlay.
“Aren’t you? I’m afraid, then, you’ll soon need to wear glasses, my dear.”
“Don’t joke about it, please: it’s a serious subject.”
“Yes,” sighed the merchant; “one’s first glasses——”
“You know very well I don’t mean glasses,” said the lady, with some petulance. “This is Lucia’s second season, and desirable young men are rare. ’Twould be unfair to her to have a man dawdling about her, acting frequently as her escort——”
“Assisted by her mother——”
“That doesn’t alter the case: it makes it all the graver in other people’s eyes.”