"Only an hour or so ago. Just in time to dress for dinner."
Leaving Lady Ellis in the drawing-room, he ran upstairs in search of his wife, and found her in the chamber which had been assigned them--a pleasant room, looking towards the lawn. She was at work: making a doll's frock for Fanny Chester.
"How hot you look!" she exclaimed, as her husband entered. "Your face is crimson."
"My brain is also," he replied. "What do you think?--Lady Ellis is here."
"Mrs. Chester told us so. She had a note from her this morning, and she herself arrived at two o'clock."
"Clary, I called her the Begum to her face."
"Oh!"
"I don't know what else I didn't call her: old and ugly, and a nightmare; and said she was coming on an elephant. In short, I did nothing but ridicule her. You see, I took her for that Lydia Clapperton."
Mrs. Lake's face turned red in its turn. She was of a refined, deeply-sensitive temperament, ever considerate of the feelings of others.
"What apology can you possibly offer, Robert? How can you make your peace?"