“I suppose you are quite disburdened of all the particulars of your wonderful romance by this time,” was Mrs. Marshall’s cheery greeting. “I knew it was no use interrupting you before you had confided the whole story to Miss Courtney. And what do you think of it, Miss Dora, now that you have heard it?”
This last question was addressed to me with such a humorous twinkle in Mrs. Marshall’s merry dark eyes, that, for the life of me, I could not help responding to it, and my comments were expressed in a burst of hearty laughter, which not all my latent worries could rob of its spontaneity. I was not sure that May might not resent our irreverence, but she took it very good-humoredly, and five minutes later we were all greeting our host and hostess at the breakfast-table.
As both the sisters were in quite a merry mood, they cheered the rest of us up wonderfully, and no one, to look at us, would imagine that we had ever become acquainted with care.
CHAPTER VI.
“When venom’d gossip shows her poison-fangs, the watchword is, ‘Beware!’”
But as soon as breakfast was over, I had a private confabulation with Mr. Garth, in which he fully approved of my intention of going to see Madame Kominski at once.
“Let me see,” he said by-and-by. “There is a train from Moorbye at 12:52. This would enable you to reach Kensington by 4:30, a good time, I should imagine, for catching the lady at home. If you fail to see her this evening, you can either return here, or put up at a hotel which I can recommend for the night. If you do not come to an arrangement, you will return and stay here, of course, until something else turns up. Should you, on the other hand, find the appointment one that you can accept, your future proceedings will be arranged between Madame Kominski and yourself.”
“The 12:50 train will suit me admirably,” I said. “I shall have time to pay a visit to Bobby and Teddy. They, at least, will remember me with affection.”
“Then suppose you get ready at once, Dorrie. I will go with you, as I want to see John Page. He has had frequent touches of rheumatism lately, and I promised to take him some liniment. I can talk to him while you interview your pets.”
“Miss Morris is anxious to go to the Grange. But I would much rather go without her this morning.”