So in they went to the shop, and Hugh bought the silk, and the Colonel paid for it, and then they all went off to the Metropolitan, and spent the rest of the morning in great joy.
CHAPTER V.
AT THE EXCHANGE.
"And how have you spent the morning, my dear?" asked Mrs. Delansing.
They were sitting at the luncheon-table. Hildegarde could just see the tip of her aunt's cap above the old-fashioned epergne which occupied the centre of the table; but her tone sounded cheerful, and Hildegarde hastened to tell of her delightful morning. She had enjoyed herself so heartily that she made the recital with joyful eagerness, forgetting for the moment that she was not speaking to her mother, who always enjoyed her good times rather more than she did herself; but a sudden exclamation from Mrs. Delansing brought her to a sudden realisation of her position.
"What!" exclaimed the old lady, and at her tone the very ferns seemed to stiffen. "What are you telling me, Hildegarde? You have been spending the morning with—with a gentleman , and that gentleman—"
"Colonel Ferrers!" said Hildegarde, hastily, fearing that she had not been understood. "Surely you know Colonel Ferrers, Aunt Emily."
"I do know Thomas Ferrers!" replied Mrs. Delansing, with awful severity; "but I do not know why—I must add that I am at a loss to imagine how—my niece should have been careering about the streets of New York with Thomas Ferrers or any other young man."