“Oh! dear, no,” she replied. “I was only thinking about something that puzzled me a little about—”
“About Miss Casalis?” inquired Mr. Guildford. His tone was so gentle that Cicely never thought of resenting the question.
“Yes,” she said; “it was partly about her.”
“But you don’t think her puzzling, do you?” said Mr. Guildford in surprise. “She seems to me transparency itself.”
Cicely looked up in his face with some perplexity in her own.
“I am afraid I sometimes repel where I should like to win,” she remarked with apparent irrelevance. But there was no time to say more, for just then they were met by a servant sent by Colonel Methvyn in quest of his daughter, and Cicely hastened in to tell her father of Mr. Guildford’s arrival.
When Mrs. Methvyn and Geneviève drove up to the hall door on their return from Greybridge, they were met by Mr. Guildford. He came forward to help them out of the carriage.
“I am still here, you see,” he said to Mrs. Methvyn. “I hope you will not think I have tired Colonel Methvyn; we have had such a pleasant afternoon. Colonel Methvyn has been so kind as to let me look over his portfolios.”
“I am so glad,” answered the wife. “There is nothing he enjoys more than showing his engravings to any one who understands them. Your coming to-day was particularly fortunate, Mr. Guildford. I wish we could send for you by magic now and then.”
Mr. Guildford laughed brightly, and Geneviève, who was just stepping out, smiled up in his face as if in agreement with her aunt.