“I don’t say you have. I don’t say that in that way you are to blame,” said Philip quietly; “always allowing that the obstacles are as insuperable as you make out.”
“They are more so—worse and worse,” said Madelene, with a rather wintry smile.
“Then you will forbid his coming home, as he can now, I suppose?”
“I have no right to do so, but if he does, I—”
The rest of her sentence was left to the imagination, for at that moment the door opened, and Ermine, followed by Ella, made her appearance.
Ermine gave no one time to feel awkward.
“It is too bad of you, Philip, and of you, Ella, too,” she said laughing, “to have balked me of my fun. It would have been too lovely to see you both looking so astonished.”
“I am not very fond of looking ridiculous for the amusement of my friends, though I would do a good deal to oblige you, Ermine,” said Sir Philip dryly.
Ella’s eyes sparkled with satisfaction. She would not like Sir Philip Cheynes to speak to her in that tone, she said to herself. But Ermine did not seem to mind in the least.
“I can stand your withering speeches, my dear boy,” she said coolly. “It was great fun all the same, and Aunt Anna enjoyed it as much as I did. You can have it out with her, if you like, when you go home.”