One could not have quarreled with the sentiment, but its blandness conveyed an exasperating disbelief.
The young man bit his lip angrily.
At the same instant there was a sound at the door.
"Aunt Tiny wants to know—"
The three men glanced up simultaneously, and Mr. Snelling's jaw dropped with amazement.
"I beg your pardon," murmured Delight. "I did not know there was any one here."
"It's only Mr. Snelling, a friend of Bob's," Willie hastened to say.
"Mr. Snelling is also a friend of Mr. Galbraith's," interrupted Robert Morton, enraged that it fell to him to perform the introduction. "This is Miss Hathaway, Mr. Snelling."
"I am charmed to meet you, Miss Hathaway," Howard Snelling declared, bending low over the girl's outstretched hand. "I did not realize you were an inmate of the house." Then with a sidelong glance at Bob he added: "Wilton certainly abounds in beautiful surprises."
As with unveiled wonder he scanned the exquisite face, Robert Morton, looking on, could have strangled him with a relish.