“You can see Mr. Morris whenever it suits him to come here,” Mr. Wyvil replied. “I will write and ask him to visit us, and you can inclose the invitation in your letter.”
“Oh, Mr. Wyvil, how good of you!”
“Oh, papa, the very thing I was going to ask you to do!”
The excellent master of Monksmoor looked unaffectedly surprised. “What are you two young ladies making a fuss about?” he said. “Mr. Morris is a gentleman by profession; and—may I venture to say it, Miss Emily?—a valued friend of yours as well. Who has a better claim to be one of my guests?”
Cecilia stopped her father as he was about to leave the room. “I suppose we mustn’t ask Mr. Mirabel what he knows of Miss Jethro?” she said.
“My dear, what can you be thinking of? What right have we to question Mr. Mirabel about Miss Jethro?”
“It’s so very unsatisfactory, papa. There must be some reason why Emily and Mr. Mirabel ought not to meet—or why should Miss Jethro have been so very earnest about it?”
“Miss Jethro doesn’t intend us to know why, Cecilia. It will perhaps come out in time. Wait for time.”
Left together, the girls discussed the course which Alban would probably take, on receiving Mr. Wyvil’s invitation.
“He will only be too glad,” Cecilia asserted, “to have the opportunity of seeing you again.”