Part 12 (2/2)
”I should not take you with me to save the ghosts running off with you,”
was Mr. Verrall's answer, as he pressed the ashes from his cigar on a pretty sh.e.l.l, set in gold. ”I go up _incog._ this time.”
”Then I'll fill the house with guests,” she petulantly said.
”Fill it, and welcome, if you like, Kate,” he replied. ”But, to go to London, you must wait for another opportunity.”
”What a hateful thing business is! I wish it had never been invented!”
”A great many more wish the same. And have more cause to wish it than you,” he drily answered. ”Is tea ready?”
Mrs. Verrall returned to the room she had left, to order it in.
Charlotte Pain was then standing outside the large window, leaning against its frame, the King Charles lying quietly in her arms, and her own ears on the alert, for she thought she heard advancing footsteps; and they seemed to be stealthy ones. The thought--or, perhaps, the wish--that it might be George G.o.dolphin, stealing up to surprise her, flashed into her mind. She bent her head, and stroked the dog, in the prettiest unconsciousness of the approaching footsteps.
A hand was laid upon her shoulder. ”Charlotte!”
She cried out--a sharp, genuine cry of dismay--dropped the King Charles, and bounded into the room. The intruder followed her.
”Why, Dolf!” uttered Mrs. Verrall in much astonishment. ”Is it you?”
”It is not my ghost,” replied the gentleman, holding out his hand. He was a little man, with fair hair, this Mr. Rodolf Pain, cousin to the two ladies. ”Did I alarm you, Charlotte?”
”Alarm me!” she angrily rejoined. ”You must have sprung from the earth.”
”I have sprung from the railway station. Where is Verrall?”
”Why have you come down so unexpectedly?” exclaimed Mrs. Verrall.
”To see Verrall. I return to-morrow.”
”Verrall goes up to-morrow night.”
”I know he does. And that is why I have come down.”
”You might have waited to see him in London,” said Charlotte, her equanimity not yet restored.
”It was necessary for me to see him before he reached London. Where shall I find him, Mrs. Verrall?”
”In the dining-room,” Mrs. Verrall replied. ”What can you want with him so hurriedly?”
”Business,” laconically replied Rodolf Pain, as he left the room in search of Mr. Verrall.
It was not the only interruption. Ere two minutes had elapsed, Lady G.o.dolphin was shown in, causing Mrs. Verrall and her sister almost as much surprise as did the last intruder. She had walked over from the Folly, attended by a footman, and some agitation peeped out through her usual courtly suavity of manner, as she asked whether Charlotte Pain could be ready to start for Scotland on the morrow, instead of on Monday.
”To-morrow will be Sunday!” returned Charlotte.
”I do not countenance Sunday travelling, if other days can be made use of,” continued Lady G.o.dolphin. ”But there are cases where it is not only necessary, but justifiable; when we are glad to feel the value of those Divine words, 'The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.' Fever has broken out again, and I shall make use of to-morrow to escape from it. We start in the morning.”
”I shall be ready and willing to go,” replied Charlotte.
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