Lady Wetheral took her seat by Christobelle's side, as she gazed vacantly upon the sparkling waters.
"Your thoughts are far away, my love, and yet I can guess their flight. They are at this moment at Clanmoray, and you are thinking of Fanny Ponsonby."
The truth of the remark startled Christobelle. It brought the colour into her face and forehead.
"Never mind Fanny Ponsonby, Bell. You have no rival there!"
"Do you think so, mamma?" she exclaimed. "How can you possibly tell his feelings?"
"His attention was exclusively given to you, Bell, though I confess you coquetted rather rashly."
"With whom did I coquette, mamma? I cannot endure that expression, it sounds so frivolous and vain."
"My love, strangers would remark you flirted too much with Captain Ponsonby, though I could comprehend your intentions, and I was amused with your little tracasseries."
"But how can you judge of his feelings towards Miss Fanny Ponsonby, mamma?"
"Because her attachment to him could not be concealed; it was apparent in her looks, and in the pain she discovered during his attentions to you."