Part 32 (2/2)

When she came down again, it was to quiet the tempest of merriment, and send off the younger folks in succession to bed, till only the four elders and Hal remained on the scene, waiting till there was reason to think the household would be ready for prayers.

'It was Dolores that you saw at Darminster, Reginald,' said Miss Mohun, quietly.

'You Sphynx woman, how do you know?'

'You said it was raining at Darminster.'

'Yes, that it was, everywhere beyond the tunnel through the Darfield hills.'

'Exactly, I know they make a line in the rainfall. Well, here it was dry, but Dolores called it a wet day.'

'Now I call that too bad, Jane, to lay a trap for the poor child in the game,' cried Colonel Mohun, just as if they had still been boy and girl together.

'It was to satisfy my own mind,' she said, colouring a little. 'I didn't want any one to act on it. Indeed, I think there will be no occasion.'

'Besides,' he added, 'it is nothing to go upon! No doubt, if it wasn't raining, it was the next thing to it here, and bow was she to recollect at this distance of time? I won't have her caught out in that way!'

'I am glad she has a champion, Regie,' said Lady Merrifield. 'Here come the servants.'

CHAPTER XIV. -- A CYPHER AND A TY.

Dolores was coming down to breakfast the next morning when Colonel Mohun's door opened. He exclaimed, 'My little Dolly, good morning!'

stooped down and kissed her.

Then, standing still a moment, and holding her hand, he said--

'Dolly, it was not you I saw at Darminster station?'

It was a terrible shock. Some one, no doubt, was trying to set him against her. And should she betray Constance and her uncle? At any rate, almost before she knew what she was saying, 'No, Uncle Regie,' was out of her mouth, and her conscience was being answered with 'How do I know it was me that he saw? these fur capes are very common.'

'I thought not,' he answered, kindly. 'Look here, Dolly, I want one word with you. Did your father ever leave anything in charge with you for Mr.

Flinders? Did he ever speak to you about him?'

'Never,' Dolores truly answered.

'Because, my dear, though it's a hard thing to say, and your poor mother felt bound to him, he is a slippery fellow--a scamp, in fact, and if ever he writes to you here, you had better send the letter straight off to me, and I'll see what's to be done. He never has, I suppose?'

'No,' said Dolores, answering the word here, and foolishly feeling the involvement too great, and Constance too much concerned in it for her to confess to her uncle what had really happened. Indeed, the first falsehood held her to the second; and there was no more time, for Lord Rotherwood was coming out of his room further down the pa.s.sage. And after the greetings, as she went downstairs before the two gentlemen, she was sure she heard Uncle Regie say, 'She's all right.' What could it mean? Was a storm averted? or was it brewing? Could that spiteful Aunt Jane and her questions about the weather be at the bottom of it?

The fun that was going on at breakfast seemed a mere roar of folly to her, and she had an instinct of nothing but getting away to Constance.

She soon found that there would be opportunity enough, for the tree was to be taken down in a barrow, and all the youthful world was to carry down the decorations in baskets, and help to put them on. She dashed off among the first to put on her things, and then was disappointed to find that first all the pets were to be fed and shown off to Fly, who appreciated them far more than she had done--knew how to lay hold of a rabbit, nursed the guinea-pigs and puppies in turn, and was rapturous in her acceptance of two young guinea-pigs and one puppy.

'I can keep them up in daddy's dressing-room while we are at High Court, and it will be such fun,' she said.

'Will he let you?' asked Gillian, in some doubt.

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