“John did mention that some one was coming to stay with us, but surely he does not intend that the parson should be a fixture?” Lady Mildred said with a frown.
“That’s what I gather, and I’m quite sure that there’s some mystery about. Your worthy husband and Mr. Drake are always talking together in the library, and when I make an appearance, the subject, whatever it is, is quickly dropped.”
“What sort of a man is this Mr. Drake?” Lady Mildred asked musingly.
“Oh, he’s all right, for he doesn’t thrust religion down your throat. In fact, I’m always forgetting he’s in the Church and I’m afraid that at times he’s rather shocked by some of my remarks. But I like him.”
There was a knock at the door and a nurse entered, carrying in her arms the baby. “Let me have him. I’ll be very careful,” Lady Ethel cried eagerly.
With great gentleness she took the sleeping child and sat down on the couch beside her sister, while the nurse, at a nod from her mistress, left the room.
The young girl, radiantly beautiful, crooned a lullaby and she did not hear the door open to admit John Gaunt and Edward Drake.
“May we come in, Mildred?” the former asked quietly, and his wife smiled in reply. “This is Mr. Drake,” Gaunt continued. “I want you to like him.”
She looked up and her eyes quickly scrutinized this new friend of her husband, and the examination apparently satisfied her, for she held out her hand and spoke graciously.
“I am glad to know you, Mr. Drake. My sister was just speaking of you.”