“I predict you will shortly have more pupils than you can handle,” and Mrs. Ogden smiled at Ethel’s enthusiasm. “But you must not be so busy that you cannot be nice to my cousin”—she stopped speaking as the butler approached her husband and commenced whispering in his ear. “What is it, Walter?”
“You say he’s here?” asked Ogden, paying no attention to his wife’s question.
“Yes, sor,” and Charles, the butler, laid a visiting card in front of Ogden. “At the door, sor.”
“Good Lord!” Ogden dropped his napkin and gazed blankly across at his wife. “He’s come——”
“He—who? Not——” Eager welcome in her eyes.
“No one you know,” responded Ogden. “The owner of this house—Professor Richard Norcross—has come to occupy ‘Blue Beard’s Chamber.’”
“Well!” Mrs. Ogden blinked in astonishment. “What a mercy I put on my most becoming morning gown. Ask him in to breakfast, Walter,” and, as her husband left the room, she added hastily, “Don’t desert me, Ethel.”
“I really ought to be at Mrs. Henderson’s in twenty minutes, Cousin Jane,” expostulated Ethel, but she lingered a moment longer to fold her napkin, and the next second Ogden had entered, followed by Professor Norcross.
“It is very kind of you not to look upon my arrival as an intrusion,” said the professor, after greeting Mrs. Ogden and Ethel. “I sent word to my agent to notify you, Mrs. Ogden, that the law required that I make a brief visit to Washington.”
“We shall try and make your stay pleasant,” answered Mrs. Ogden cordially. She was agreeably impressed with the professor’s scholarly appearance. “Charles, bring some hot coffee. Oh, don’t go, Ethel,” as the latter moved toward the door.