"We are always meeting all the same people. When I go into a crowded room now, I seem to know everybody in it. I feel quite surprised at the sight of a stranger."
"Just as if you were an experienced fine lady," laughed Mademoiselle; "how quickly my woodland nymph has accustomed herself to the ways of this crowded fashionable town! But to return to Lord Lavendale: if you do not meet him oftener than you do other people, I think that at least you enjoy more of his society. You and he are often talking together, Mrs. Amelia told me."
"O yes, we are very good friends," the girl answered carelessly. "I think he is pleasanter than most people."
"Heart-whole, and likely to remain so, as far as Lavendale is concerned," thought the little Frenchwoman with satisfaction; for she knew too much of his lordship's past history to approve of him as a suitor for her beloved pupil.
After a pause she said,
"By the bye, Rena, Mr. Durnford called yesterday when you were out with Lady Tredgold. It is the fifth time he has called and found you gone abroad."
Irene blushed crimson.
"O, why did you not beg him to stop till I came home?" she asked.
"My dear child, this is not my house. I have no right to give invitations."
"Yes, you have. You could have detained him if you had liked. The fifth visit! What must he think of me?"