"Have you seen Ham Court lately?" she resumed, looking up; the blushes making her very pretty.
"Not since your brother came to it. He has not been here long, you know. I called one day, but they said Mr. Dallory was out."
"The place is very nice now. He has made alterations, and done it up beautifully. You must come again."
"With pleasure," answered Richard. "How long shall you remain with him?"
"As long as he will have me. I am not going away yet. I shall make it my home. Frank has quiet tastes, and so have I: and we intend to live a Darby and Joan life together, and grow into an old maid and an old bachelor."
Richard smiled. "How is it Francis did not come with you this evening?"
"May I dare to tell you why?" she whispered. "When we saw madam's carriage driving up, Frank disappeared. 'Say I am out,' was his order to me. He and madam never got on well: as a little boy he was terribly afraid of her, and I think the feeling has lasted. When I went to put my bonnet on, I found him shut up in his room. He wished me joy of my visit, and promised to come and walk home with me in the evening."
Madam rose from table early. Something in the arrangements did not seem to suit her. It was a warm and lovely evening, and they went out on the lawn. Miss Dallory slipped round the corner of the house to the window of Mr. North's parlour.
It stood open and he sat just within it. Sat with his hands on his knees, and his head drooping. Miss Dallory started: not so much because his face was thin and worn, but at its hopeless expression. In her two years' absence, he seemed to have aged ten.
She stepped over the threshold, and gently laid her hands on his. He looked up as a man bewildered.