"A great scholar and a noble gentleman," said Lady Jane quietly.
Rosamund felt herself coloring, and a sense of annoyance swept over her.
"Well, anyhow, I came," she said; "and I suppose you are not going to send me back now that I have braved the displeasure of every one to come to you?"
"I will drive you back myself after we have had tea together; and you must come and spend a week day with me. It was wrong to come, dear, and it was a pity. When you get to know Mr. Merriman well you will understand that when he says a thing he means it. I will try and intercede for you on this occasion. I myself do not think it at all wrong that you should come and minister to the wants of a lonely woman on Sunday. I noticed your bright face in church; and although you are not very like your mother, you have got something of her expression, and many of the tones of her voice, and it gives me pleasure to converse with you."
"But why should you be lonely when you have got"——
Just at that moment there was a noise outside, followed by a fierce scuffle and the banging about of furniture, and the room door was opened, and the girl whom Rosamund had seen swinging at the other end of the sunlit lawn appeared on the scene. She was one of the most beautiful girls Rosamund, who thought herself very good-looking, had ever beheld in her life, but her eyes were wild and almost unsteady. Her laugh was harsh and her voice unpleasant.
"Irene," said Lady Jane, turning pale, "what is the matter with you? Won't you behave?"
The girl gave a laugh, flung herself into a chair, then drew herself a little closer, and stared full at Rosamund.
"Never mind mother," she said. "Who are you?"
"My name is Rosamund Cunliffe," was Rosamund's reply.