“Why, that is our Miss Douglas, and we met her only a few hours ago, as she was going out!”
Mrs. Coolidge and Isabel were confounded at this speech.
They had not thought of such a thing as the girls meeting her, and had fondly hoped they should not be drawn into the matter any more than to wonder, with the other guests, what could have become of her.
Everybody gathered around the young girls at once, eager to hear more.
“She was with us an hour or more,” Viola further explained, “then she said she must return to the Hall, and the last we saw of her she came this way.”
“And who is ‘our Miss Douglas,’ and what connection has she with Lady Ruxley’s companion?” asked Sir Charles, coming forward and looking very grave.
“She was our governess until about two months ago, when—when——”
Viola stammered, and got very red in the face.
Her heart prompted her to stand up loyally for the teacher whom she so dearly loved, but she stood somewhat in awe of her mother, who was regarding her with sternest displeasure, and whose eye she had just caught.
Mrs. Coolidge hastened to the rescue.