“I have been frightening them a little more than it was worth; but I am quite well now. How is Lady Anwyll?”
“Thank you, she’s just as usual; in very good health and a tremendous bustle. You know I always put the house topsy-turvy when I come down. Not that I mean to do it; it seems to come of itself as a natural consequence of my being there,” he explained, laughing. “Is M. de la Bourbonais quite well?”
“Quite well. He will be in presently; he is only gone to make a few purchases for me.”
“How anxious he must have been while you were ill!”
“Dear papa! yes he was.”
“Do you ride much now?”
“Not at all. I am forbidden to take any violent exercise for the present.”
All obvious subjects being now exhausted, there ensued a pause. Ponsonby was the first to break it.
“Have you forgiven me, Franceline?” he said, looking at her tenderly, and with a sort of sheepish timidity.
“Indeed I have; forgiven and forgotten,” she replied; and then blushing very red, and correcting herself quickly: “I mean there was nothing to forgive.”