Then Miss Charlotte suddenly rallied, and said,
"Oh, but we could not on any account allow you to go on without taking some refreshment."
CHAPTER IX.
So it would once have been—'tis so no more,
I have submitted to a new control;
A power is gone which nothing can restore,
A deep distress hath humanized my soul.
Wordsworth.
Lady Mabel did not require much pressing to induce her to accept the eagerly-offered tea and rest. She was tired and wet, hungry and thirsty, and in her graceful, Irish way, she made her acceptance seem like the conferring of a favor.
It was with some amused and speculative interest that she entered the house which had produced such an anachronism of Miss Elaine Brabourne.
The sisters greeted her with some nervousness, but as much cordiality as they knew how to show. Hospitality was a virtue they all possessed, though their opportunities of displaying it were few and far between. A grateful coolness was the first sensation which her ladyship experienced on entering the low-ceiled dining-room. A real Devonshire "high tea" was spread on the table in tempting profusion. There were chudleighs and cream, cakes and honey, eggs from the poultry-yard, and such ham as could only be cured in perfection at Edge Willoughby.